As of: 04/22/2022 6:46 p.m
After a SEK operation because of illegal gun ownership in Boxberg, a suspected “Reich citizen” shot at police officers. Now the Attorney General is investigating because of the “special importance” of the case.
On Wednesday morning, police officers wanted to search the property of the alleged perpetrator on suspicion of illegal possession of weapons during a large-scale operation. The man, whom the authorities associate with the so-called Reichsbürger movement, resisted and shot the police officers with an automatic weapon.
One officer was hit in the leg and had to be taken to hospital. During the operation, the property caught fire. The suspect eventually exited the building and was arrested. During the search, the police officers found an extensive arsenal of stabbing weapons and firearms as well as Nazi memorabilia.
Police officers attacked as representatives of the rule of law?
So far, the Mosbach public prosecutor’s office had led the investigation. According to the law, the Federal Public Prosecutor General, as the highest federal prosecutor, can take charge of the investigation if certain criminal offenses are likely to impair the internal security of the Federal Republic according to the circumstances of the case and the case is of “particular importance”. From the point of view of the Karlsruhe authorities, these requirements are now met in the Boxberg case.
The federal prosecutor’s office has therefore taken over the investigation, as a spokeswoman for the ARD legal department confirmed in Karlsruhe in the afternoon. “Particular importance” means that there may be political motives behind an act. The specific case concerns the allegation of the attempted murder of 15 police officers. There is a suspicion that the alleged perpetrator attacked the police officers in their capacity as representatives of the rule of law, the spokeswoman continued.