Paris, Feb 20 (IANS): French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday expressed solidarity and compassion with Germany after a gunman shot and killed nine people in twin shootings in the western German city of Hanau.

"Immense sadness and my full support for Germany in the face of this tragic attack," Macron wrote on his Twitter account.

"I stand with Chancellor Angela Merkel in this fight for our values and the protection of our democracies," Macron added.

The shooter, a 43-year-old German man, first attacked a shisha bar in central Hanau around 10 p.m. (local time) on Wednesday, before heading to another shisha bar about 2.5 km west and opening fires again, Xinhua news agency reported.

Police said early Thursday on Twitter that the suspect was found dead at home with another body.

"Based on what we know now, there was definitely a xenophobic motive," German news agency dpa quoted Peter Beuth, interior minister for the state of Hesse, as saying.

"Racism is a poison, hate is a poison. And this poison exists in our society and is to blame for far too many crimes," Merkel said in a statement on Hanau shootings. "We oppose, with all our might, to those who split Germany," she noted.