The Anglican bishops in Europe have offered their condolences and prayers to the people of Munich following the weekend terror attack that left nine dead.
The Anglican bishops in Europe have offered their condolences and prayers to the people of Munich following the weekend terror attack that left nine dead. On 22 July 2016 Ali Sonboly, an 18 year old born in Germany of Iranian parents, attacked the customers in a McDonald’s restaurant in Munich and the streets outside. “I hear this, like an alarm, boom, boom, boom. And he’s still killing the children. They make nothing. The children were sitting to eat. They can’t run. I hear this Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar. This, I know because I’m Muslim too. I heard this and I only cry,” a witness told CNN. Police said on Saturday that two victims were 13, three were 14, one was 17 and another was 19. The remaining two were 20 and 45. Six were male and three were female. Twenty-seven people are being treated in the city’s hospitals for injuries sustained in the attack. Ten people – including a 13-year-old boy – remain in a critical condition and the death toll could rise further, officials said. Police have so far declined to speculate on the motives of the killer, who died at the scene. The Suffragan Bishop in Europe, the Rt. Rev. David Hamid, wrote to the rector of the Anglican/Episcopal Church of the Ascension in Munich, the Rev. Steven Smith expressing “our deep sorrow at these recent killings of at least 9 persons. This Sunday in our services we will pray for the victims and for all who have been injured, and for all who mourn the death of their loved ones and friends. We pray that God will strengthen all who serve and minister to those affected, including you and your colleague priests and pastors in Munich.” The American suffragan bishop in Europe, the Rt. Rev. Pierre Whalon released a lament following the shooting. He said he was “tired, I am sick and tired, of regularly writing these reflections. I do so because I am bishop for these lands. My heart goes out once again to a city battered and mauled by a kid with a gun. A few days ago, another town, Würzburg, and a boy with an axe. Last week it was a guy with a truck. Before that, with a knife, killing a mother and father in front of their three-year-old son. Before that, it was Brussels. And Paris. And Paris. And Toulouse. Not to mention, Lord, what’s happening in my country of origin, my homeland. Baton Rouge, Dallas, Orlando, San Bernardino. And the land I visited in 2003, that you brought me to just before the war, that stupid war. Baghdad, I want to go back, but I can’t. And Turkey and Bangladesh. And the horror that is Saudi Arabia.” He asked: “O Lord! How long? How much longer must this so-called Islamic State continue to exist? When will you bring Boko Haram and all the other imitators to an end? What about the persecutors and the persecuted elsewhere in the world? In India and Indonesia. In Pakistan and Thailand and Myanmar. How many more million Congolese are going to die? How long, O Lord, how long?!”
