60-year-old shoots two local authority employees during weapons inspection in Berngau
A former police officer killed two employees of the district office in the Bavarian municipality of Berngau during a weapons inspection. The man, who owned ten legally registered firearms, was arrested after a hours-long siege.
60-year-old shoots two local authority employees during weapons inspection in Berngau
According to n-tv, a 60-year-old man in the Upper Palatinate municipality of Berngau shot two local authority employees as they attempted to conduct a routine weapons inspection. The 45-year-old employee of the Neumarkt district office and his 54-year-old colleague were killed in the incident. The shooter then barricaded himself in a house for hours before specialist police units arrested him, seriously injuring him in the process.
According to Bavaria's Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann, the perpetrator was a police officer in the 1990s. When and why he left the service is unknown. The man was resident in the municipality of approximately 2,600 inhabitants as a hunter and sport shooter and had ten firearms legally registered in the weapons register.
The inspection was conducted without prior notice as part of standard authority procedure. The man had not previously come to the attention of police, Herrmann stated. However, the Bild newspaper reported that neighbours had noticed the perpetrator and spoke of threats against residents. One neighbour was quoted by the newspaper as saying: "He was a time bomb waiting to go off." According to Herrmann's statement, the constitutional protection authority and state security had no information about any extremist ideology held by the man.
During the arrest, specialist units fired on the man, seriously injuring him as a result. Initially, police had reported minor injuries. The 60-year-old was taken to hospital under police guard. The police spokesperson said that his interrogation still needed to be awaited and that the man would be brought before an investigating judge, who would decide on remand in custody or admission to a specialist clinic.
The perpetrator himself had called the police emergency centre and stated that he was in his flat and in possession of firearms. He indicated that he had fired shots and announced that he would not surrender without resistance. This triggered a major police operation that continued late into the night.
Berngau's First Mayor Thomas Meier described the situation on the ground with the words: "The sense of shock is enormous" and "The mood is indeed fatal." Incomprehension prevailed in the municipality over the deed, and people felt sympathy for those affected.
Interior Minister Herrmann announced that he would discuss the case with Bavarian district offices. He emphasised, however, that approximately 10,000 such weapons inspections take place annually in the Free State and that there have been no comparable incidents in recent years. The findings so far would not provide any indications as to what could be done differently in future, said Herrmann. However, he said that the procedures for such inspections would be discussed with the district administrative authorities.
Source: n-tv