Armed robbery in Bad Bleiberg: Police seek accomplice in getaway vehicle
Two masked men robbed an elderly couple and a carer in Bad Bleiberg – police do not rule out accomplices in the getaway vehicle.
Violent armed robbery on pensioners in Bad Bleiberg – investigators search for accomplice
As reported by Kleine Zeitung, two masked men stormed into a residential house in the municipality of Bad Bleiberg in Carinthia last Thursday at around 14:00. Their victims: a 78-year-old couple and their 67-year-old carer.
The perpetrators bound the 78-year-old homeowner, who holds German citizenship, threatened him with a knife and beat him. They then forced the severely injured man to search the house for valuables together with them. The carer, who is from Bosnia, was also attacked and restrained, but remained unharmed. The perpetrators left the homeowner's bedridden partner, who suffers from severe dementia, unmolested.
After around 30 minutes, the robbers left the house – with numerous valuables. The police made no statement regarding the amount of material damage. The carer then alerted the neighbours, who in turn notified the emergency services. A large-scale manhunt that was immediately launched produced no results.
The Federal Criminal Police Office describes such crimes as a "home invasion": perpetrators break into an occupied property to overpower the residents and rob them. Unlike an ordinary burglary, they deliberately select houses or flats because someone is present – often elderly people, from whom less resistance is expected. In most cases, the perpetrators already know beforehand that significant loot is to be expected.
Around a dozen tips have since been received by investigators, but the crucial one was not among them. The injured homeowner was treated at Villach Central Hospital; he and the 67-year-old have since been questioned. This yielded new findings: the two robbers are believed to have had accomplices. "It cannot be ruled out that there may be accessories to the crime," says Matthias Kogelnig, spokesman for the Carinthian State Police Directorate. These individuals may have waited in a getaway vehicle near the scene of the crime.
Investigators at the Carinthian State Criminal Office are hoping for further clarification from the examination of the suspected murder weapon, which is currently being tested for DNA traces. "The result is still pending," says LPD spokesman Kogelnig.
The crime scene itself is considered unusual: unlike in comparable cases, the affected residential house is not located in a remote location, but rather in the middle of a residential area in Bad Bleiberg.
The police are issuing an appeal to residents of Bad Bleiberg and neighbouring municipalities: information on suspicious persons or vehicles – including from the days before the crime – should be reported to the Carinthian State Criminal Office on telephone number 059133 203333. Information will be treated confidentially and can also be reported to any police station.
Source: Kleine Zeitung