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German tourist killed in San Francisco shooting

A German tourist has been shot and killed in the US city of San Francisco, and police there have charged an 18-year-old man for the crime, a local media report said late on Monday.

Published: 10 August 2010 08:32 CEST

German tourist killed in San Francisco shooting

Union Square. Photo: Wikipedia Commons

Mechthild Schröer , 50, of Minden, North Rhine-Westphalia was walking with her husband in the popular Union Square plaza around 9 pm on Sunday when she was caught in the crossfire between two groups and shot, according to broadcaster KTVU.

“Staff at the St. George Hotel where the couple was staying told KTVU that Schröer and his wife checked into the hotel only hours before the shooting,” the broadcaster reported. “It was their first trip to San Francisco and they were in the city to celebrate their wedding anniversary and the shooting victim’s birthday.”

The woman died of her injuries at a California hospital. Two other people were injured. On Monday night police said they had charged 18-year-old Phillip Stewart with murder.

Shortly before that, the late woman’s husband Stefan left the St. George hotel to board a flight back to Germany, the broadcaster said.

“On behalf of our entire City, I offer my deepest condolences to the family and friends of Mechthild Schröer, who died needlessly from this senseless violence,” Mayor Gavin Newsom said in a statement on Monday.

According to KTVU, the shooting, along with another in the area the same night, was part of a rash of nightclub-related violence in the city.

In response, Mayor Newsom signed an order on Monday giving the San Francisco Entertainment Commission the right to revoke nightclubs’ licences for problem establishments.

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Germany, Czech Republic accuse Russia of cyberattacks

The accusations come at a time of strained relations between Moscow and the West following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and the European Union’s support for Kyiv.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said a newly concluded government investigation found that a cyberattack targeting members of the Social Democratic Party had been carried out by a group known as APT28.

APT28 “is steered by the military intelligence service of Russia”, Baerbock told reporters during a visit to Australia.

“In other words, it was a state-sponsored Russian cyberattack on Germany and this is absolutely intolerable and unacceptable and will have consequences.”

APT28, also known as Fancy Bear, has been accused of dozens of cyberattacks in countries around the world. Russia denies being behind such actions.

The hacking attack on German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s SPD party was made public last year. Hackers exploited a previously unknown vulnerability in Microsoft Outlook to compromise e-mail accounts, according to Berlin.

Berlin on Friday summoned the acting charge d’affaires of the Russian embassy over the incident.

The Russian embassy in Germany said its envoy “categorically rejected the accusations that Russian state structures were involved in the given incident… as unsubstantiated and groundless”.

Arms, aerospace targeted: Berlin

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said the cyber campaign was orchestrated by Russia’s military intelligence service GRU and began in 2022. It also targeted German companies in the armaments and aerospace sectors, she said.

Such cyberattacks are “a threat to our democracy, national security and our free societies”, she told a joint news conference in Prague with her Czech counterpart Vit Rakusan.

“We are calling on Russia again to stop these activities,” Faeser added.

Czech government officials said some of its state institutions had also been the target of cyberattacks blamed on APT28, again by exploiting a weakness in Microsoft Outlook in 2023.

Czech Interior Minister Rakusan said his country’s infrastructure had recently experienced “higher dozens” of such attacks.

“The Czech Republic is a target. In the long term, it has been perceived by the Russian Federation as an enemy state,” he told reporters.

EU, NATO condemnation

The German and Czech findings triggered strong condemnation from the European Union.

“The malicious cyber campaign shows Russia’s continuous pattern of irresponsible behaviour in cyberspace, by targeting democratic institutions, government entities and critical infrastructure providers across the European Union and beyond,” EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said.

The EU would “make use of the full spectrum of measures to prevent, deter and respond to Russia’s malicious behaviour in cyberspace”, he added.

State institutions, agencies and entities in other member states including in Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia and Sweden had been targeted by APT28 in the past, the statement added.

The latest accusations come a day after NATO expressed “deep concern” over Russia’s “hybrid actions” including disinformation, sabotage and cyber interference.

The row also comes as millions of Europeans prepare to go to the polls for the European Parliament elections in June, and concerns about foreign meddling are running high.

Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky told AFP that “pointing a finger publicly at a specific attacker is an important tool to protect national interests”.

One of the most high-profile incidents so far blamed on Fancy Bear was a cyberattack in 2015 that paralysed the computer network of the German lower house of parliament, the Bundestag. It forced the entire institution offline for days while it was fixed.

In 2020, the EU imposed sanctions on individuals and entities linked to the APT28 group over the incident.

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