VideoAn 18-year-old German with a firearm injured four people in a lecture hall at the university in Heidelberg this afternoon, one of whom has since died. The perpetrator comes from Mannheim and took his own life after his actions, police and justice reported Monday evening during a press conference in the same city.
Caspar Naber
Latest update:
24-01-22, 21:29
The deceased victim is a 23-year-old woman who was reportedly hit in the head and succumbed to her injuries at a hospital. The other victims, all in their twenties, suffered minor injuries. The gunman was carrying three rifles, including a shotgun, which he recently personally bought abroad. The police would not say exactly where for the sake of the investigation. “We have found receipts and are investigating why someone is selling an 18-year-old weapons and ammunition.”
The shooter did not have a firearms license, neither did his parents, and was not known to the judiciary and police. “It is exceptional that we know so little about a perpetrator,” said police chief Siegfried Kollmar. According to him, the teenager lived in rooms and was also a student himself. ,,He studied biology like his victims, but should have been in the lecture hall in question on another day. Because of corona, the students are divided into small groups that each have lectures on a different day.
threatening app
Just before his actions, the gunman sent his father an app in which he threatened ‘that now’ people should be punished and indicated that he did not want to be buried in a cemetery but preferred a seafarer’s grave. He did not mention names in his message. The police are investigating the authenticity of the message and do not rule out a psychological disorder.
The police received seven emergency calls within 43 seconds at 12:24 am. It involved an armed man who had broken into a lecture room at the center for organic biology and fired randomly around him. About 30 students followed a lecture in the room. Four of them were injured. The perpetrator then fled outside where he took his own life. Officers found his body at 12:51 p.m.
Motive
The investigators have not yet made any statements about a possible motive. It is still too early for that, said Chief Public Prosecutor Andreas Herrgen. “There is no reliable information about this yet.” German media reported earlier, based on information from security circles, that the initial findings had not provided any indications of a political or religious motive.
It is also unclear, according to the chief officer, why the gunman did not make more victims. He was carrying a backpack filled with over a hundred cartridges that would have allowed him to reload his weapons. Research must show why he stopped after four victims and whether there was a targeted action against certain people.
It is also being investigated whether third parties should be held criminally responsible. Reading out the shooter’s mobile phone plays an important role in this. The perpetrator’s apartment was already searched on Monday afternoon, his parents were searched during the press conference.
The University of Heidelberg reports on its website that ‘according to the current state of affairs, no foreign students have been affected by the events.’ The university board says it is making preparations for psychological support for all those affected.
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Danger gone
According to the police, there are no direct indications of involvement of third parties. Despite this, a large police force combed the university building and surrounding grounds for safety’s sake. It also involved a special and heavily armed police unit and a police helicopter providing aerial support. The police said about 3.15 pm that the danger had passed.
The university, the oldest in Germany, called on students by email not to come to the campus and those who were already there to stay away from the area in question.
The police reported a large-scale operation in Neuenheimer Feld around 1.15 pm via Twitter. There are natural science faculties and departments of the medical faculty and the university hospital of the University of Heidelberg. The area was cordoned off and traffic was diverted. The cordon and diversion were lifted around 5:30 p.m. The trace investigation at the crime scene and at the location of his body is still ongoing.
Startled by attacks
Germany has been rocked repeatedly by attacks in recent years. These were usually the work of jihadists or right-wing extremists. Twelve people were killed in 2016 when a Muslim extremist drove into a Christmas market in Berlin. He used a truck.
Shootings at schools or other educational institutions are rare in Germany, but they do occur. For example, in 2009 a former student opened fire in a school in Winnenden, another town in Baden-Württemberg. Several students and teachers were killed.
Heidelberg is located south of Frankfurt and has about 160,000 inhabitants. The university is one of the best known in Germany.
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