German Halle Synagogue Shooter Attempts Prison Escape

He climbed an 11-foot fence during a walk through a prison courtyard.

[additional-authors]

Joe Baur, JTA

June 6, 2020

HALLE, GERMANY – OCTOBER 10: People mourn in front of the entrance to the Jewish synagogue on October 10, 2019 in Halle, Germany. Law enforcement authorities, after initially speaking of multiple attackers, are now referring to a single attacker who has been apprehended. A video, apparently streamed by the attacker live and with commentary from the shooting spree, shows him attempt and fail to force his way into the synagogue in Halle. He then, using what he describes as an improvised weapon, shoots a woman happening to pass by his car on the street and drives to a nearby kebab shop, where he shoots a man inside several times. Afterwards he fires at police blocking a street ahead of him, only to be wounded by returned fire. Towards the end of the video he states that he is bleeding and that he has been shot, and calls himself a ìcomplete loserî in an apparent apology to his perceived audience for not delivering the ìactionî he had anticipated. According to media reports the attacker has been identified as 27-year-old Stephan B. (Photo by Jens Schlueter/Getty Images)

The gunman accused of attacking a synagogue in Halle, Germany, in 2019, was recaptured by German authorities after attempting a prison escape.

Stephan Balliet climbed an 11-foot fence during a walk through a prison courtyard on Saturday, but was caught shortly thereafter and taken back into custody. By Wednesday he had been transferred to a maximum-security prison.

“I’m really speechless,” Max Privorozki, the chairman of the Jewish Community in Halle, told the Jüdische Allgemeine. “For me, what happened yesterday was very evil and an unexpected surprise. It’s probably not surprising that the attacker would attempt to flee, but the fact that he would have been able to, that’s the problem.”

Anne-Marie Keding, the minister of justice in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, called the incident “horrible” in an interview with Deutschen Presse-Agentur. “There must be consequences.”

The escape attempt comes as the Halle Jewish community finds itself the target of a number of anti-Semitic incidents in recent days. Two swastikas were found drawn on the sidewalk in front of the community building on Grosse Markerstrasse. That came just days after the synagogue received a hate letter.

An investigation into the incidents is underway.

Balliet is scheduled to stand trial this summer for killing two people in the 2019 attack that began during Yom Kippur services. After failing to gain entry to the synagogue where more than 50 people were praying inside, he allegedly shot a woman dead near the entrance to the adjacent Jewish cemetery and subsequently killed a man at a kebab shop.