Oldenburg: Officer charged after fatal shots fired at 21-year-old
A court in Oldenburg has confirmed charges against a police officer for manslaughter by negligence. The 28-year-old is alleged to have shot a young man in the city centre in April 2025.
Oldenburg: Officer charged after fatal shots fired at 21-year-old
A court in the Lower Saxony city has cleared the way for criminal proceedings against a 28-year-old police officer. The officer is alleged to have fired five shots at a 21-year-old in April 2025, who subsequently died in hospital. This is reported by DIE ZEIT.
The incident occurred during the night of Easter Sunday in a pedestrian zone. Passers-by had previously reported a bodily assault involving the man who was later killed. When police arrived, the fatal confrontation ensued.
According to investigations, the officer fired five shots in an extremely short timeframe—within just two seconds. The distance between both individuals is said to have been very small, at most one and a half metres. Four projectiles struck the young man, including to the head and abdomen.
The prosecution alleges that the police officer, as a trained officer, should have recognised that there was no immediate threat. The 21-year-old had sprayed irritant gas but had not used a knife. Furthermore, he appeared to have attempted to flee rather than attack.
The accused himself apparently believed that the young man intended to attack him with a blade and steal his service weapon. The court therefore suspects an error in an alleged case of self-defence. For this reason, it finds sufficient grounds for suspicion of manslaughter by negligence, but not for murder or manslaughter.
The case attracted considerable attention nationwide and led to demonstrations against racist police violence. A citizens' initiative sees racism as the core cause of the death of the Black man.
The parents of the deceased will participate in the proceedings as co-prosecutors. A date for the start of the trial has not yet been set. The clarification of the exact sequence of events falls to a panel of three professional judges and two lay judges.
The court's decision was welcomed by politicians and activists. A Green party member of parliament spoke of an important step towards resolving the matter. She called for comprehensive evidence review and complete transparency in order to strengthen public trust.
In the Federal Republic, fatal police firearm deployments only rarely result in court proceedings. Last year, at least 16 people died in such deployments. The vast majority of investigations are terminated. Experts believe that only about two in a hundred cases actually lead to a trial.
Source: Google News DE — Crime (de)