This is the first picture of the pregnant mum-of-two gunned down by a deranged racist terrorist in the German town of Hanau.
The 35-year-old, identified as Mercedes Kierpacz, had stopped to buy chips and a can of soft drink at a shop next to the Arena shisha bar when the killer Tobias Rathjen stormed in and began randomly shooting.
Friends said Mercedes was shot in the chest. She was five months pregnant at the time of her death, and had one son aged 16 and a nine-year-old daughter.
Mercedes Kierpacz, 35, a pregnant mother-of-two, was killed with a single bullet to the chest as she worked in a kiosk next to a shisha bar during the Hanau terror attack
Mercedes’ heartbroken sisters Jasmine and Melissa are pictured with their father Phillip
Mercedes was working her regular shift at a kiosk – a kind of corner shop – in Hanau next to the Arena Bar and Cafe when she was shot dead on Wednesday night
She is believed to be the only female victim among the nine people who were killed in the deadly rampage at two popular venues in the town of Hanau, about 12 miles from the city of Frankfurt.
All nine of the victims had a migrant background, German authorities said, and Mercedes was of Romany Polish descent. She was also a German citizen.
Mercedes was a regular employee of the Arena bar but was not at work at the time of the shooting and was instead visiting to see friends.
Her sisters Jasmine and Melissa wept silently as they laid flowers outside the Arena Shish bar in the Kettlestadt district close to where she was killed.
They were comforted by their father Phillip who told Mail Online: ‘My daughter had everything to live for and she has been taken by an evil man.’
She was on her way home to a nearby block of flats when she was killed.
Jasmine, 28, told MailOnline: ‘My sister was five months pregnant. She was so looking forward to having another child.
‘It is not fair. Why has she lost her life? She did not do harm to anyone and now she has been taken from us.’
Jasmine sat alongside her younger sister Melissa on a bench not far from the 24/7 kiosk where Mercedes lost her life.
She said Mercedes was a single mum and her two children were now being cared for by close family members.
‘We are from the Roma community and they will help and look after them. They know what has happened and will have to live with this for the rest of their lives.’
Dad Phillip,59, said his daughter lived less than half a mile away from the scene of the shooting.
‘She was on her way home and stopped to buy some chips and a cola. It was something she would regularly do.
‘Why does this man have to take her life. She did not harm to him. It is wrong that such an evil man can do this.’
Sister Melissa wiped away tears as she recalled her ‘loving and kind sister.’
‘She would do anything for her family,’ said Melissa.
‘I can’t believe that she has been taken from us. We were close as sister and she has been ripped from us. The world is not fair.’
The Kierpacz family laid flowers in a passage way leading to the Arena shish lounge.
Gokhan Gultekin (above), an employee at the Arena bar, and Ferhat Unvar, another employee at the bar who was not at work at the time of the attack, were also killed
Bilal Gokce (left) and Sedat Gürbüz (right) were also killed. All nine of the dead had migrant backgrounds, including Mercedes who was Romany Polish
A friend named as Jade added: ‘She was shot in the chest. I didn’t want to believe it, but then I saw the videos of her family crying and screaming.’
She described Mercedes as having a strong personality but someone who was very ‘open and personable.’
Her death was confirmed by the Central Council of the Roma community.
Chairman of the Council Romani Rose said: ‘The Central Council and all Sinti and Roma in Germany mourn with their relatives mourn with their relatives for the murdered young woman, the mother of two children.
‘We mourn them all and all the victims of the right wing terrorist attack.’
A cousin named as Ali told local media: ‘Our grief is immeasurable. Germany must stick together now. We never thought that something would happen in this country that is our home.
‘We must not start a war now, we must remain calm.’
The Shish bar and the adjoining 24/7kiosk are below a eight storey high block of flats.
Police had lifted a cordon around the scene of the shooting, but most of the other stores in the precinct remained closed.
Local residents visited a makeshift shrine to pay their respect and to light a candle.
One local resident who walked away tears streaming down her face said:’ I did not know those who died, but it is so senseless. I had to come to light a candle in their memory.’
Police forensic team continued their work inside the lounge where at least four of the victims were killed.
As police continued their investigation into the shooting and the bizarre manifesto posted by the 43-year-old killer funerals of other victims had already taken place in keeping with the Muslim tradition.
Rathjen shot his 72 year old mother and also took his own life to bring the night of terror in the town of Hanau to a close.
Among the victims is Ferhat Ünvar, the 22-year-old son of an employee of the Kurdish daily newspaper ‘Yeni Özgür Politika’ in Neu-Isenburg near Frankfurt.
His cousin said he was shot twice in the attack and his funeral took place on Thursday.
Terrorist Tobias Rathjen launched a gun attack on two shisha bars in his hometown of Hanau on Wednesday night, after posing a manifesto online advocating ethnic cleansing
Six people were also wounded in the attack, one of whom was said to be in critical condition on Thursday (pictured, police and forensic officers outside one of the bars)
German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, center, and Governor Volker Bouffier, left, laid flowers near the scene while condemning the racist attack
Friends said he had recently qualified as a plumber and heating engineer.
The owner of the Midnight bar, where the rampage began on Wednesday evening, was also among those killed.
Sedat Gurbuz was gunned down along with one of his waiters Gokhan Gultekin.
Both men were of Turkish descent. Eye witnesses said three men eating at a table were shot before Gurbuz and Gultekin were gunned down.
A spokesman for the Turkish embassy in Berlin said they understood five of the men who died were from Turkey.
Fatih Saracoglu and Bilal Gokce were also named among those who died at the Midnight bar.
Two of other victims were Kurds while another was from Bulgaria and the youngest from Bosnia.
The victims were named as Agri Eleskirtli, Kolayan Velkov,32, from Bulgaria and Hamza Kurtovic, 20, from Bosnia.
Relatives of Kurtovic,from Prijedor, said he lived in the same district as his killer and would have known him.