Aarau shooting rampage: Ambulances waiting 600 metres away – criticism of emergency responders
Following the shooting rampage in Aarau that killed one person and injured six, criticism is mounting: rescue vehicles are said to have arrived at the scene too late.
Emergency responders under fire: Too slow to arrive at Aarau scene?
Nearly a week after the shooting rampage in Aarau, the debate over the response of emergency personnel continues. In the night into Sunday, at around 2:30 a.m., a man fired 40 shots into a celebrating crowd that had previously attended a techno party. Twenty-two-year-old Maria S. was killed, and six other people were injured. Police arrested the suspected perpetrator, Julien G. (43) from the canton of Jura, a few hours after the incident.
The response of emergency responders is now facing criticism. According to an anonymous eyewitness who spoke to the Aargauer Zeitung, the ambulance vehicles arrived significantly too late on the night of the incident. "The police can claim all they want that the ambulance was quickly on the scene," the newspaper quotes the witness as saying. "The ambulance was at the front of the 30 kilometre-per-hour zone."
Independent sources from among emergency responders confirmed to the Aargauer Zeitung that the ambulances did indeed wait for an extended period at the entrance – approximately 600 metres from the actual scene of the incident. Paramedics and emergency physicians are said to have then rushed on foot to the scene to treat the injured. The exact time at which vehicles were allowed onto the premises is not known.
These accounts align with what Alexa S. (24) told Blick. The woman injured in the attack explained that the ambulances "eventually" arrived. "They weren't allowed onto the premises because of the danger, because the shooter was still at large. The two helpers then went with me to the front, where I got into the ambulance." Alexa was not admitted to hospital until around 4:20 a.m. – almost two hours after the shooting rampage.
Operations commander Matthias Schildknecht defended the police response at a press conference on Wednesday. "Only once the premises are secured can we let emergency responders through," he said, referring to the confusing situation at the scene.
Sources from the emergency services environment additionally claim that access to the scene was blocked by police vehicles. Whether this corresponds to the facts remains unclear. The cantonal police refused to comment on this.
Source: Blick