crime
Further open questions after hostage-taking in Dresden
Police barrier tape lies in front of the closed Altmarkt-Galerie shopping center. photo
© Sebastian Willnow/dpa
Much is still open about the background to the dramatic hostage-taking in Dresden. The public prosecutor’s office also wants to take the circumstances of the perpetrator’s death into account in their investigations.
For the investigators in the case of the Dresden hostage-taking, the criminal investigation of the circumstances of the crime is now beginning. The investigations are being conducted by the public prosecutor’s office in Dresden. Among other things, it must be clarified whether the perpetrator was allowed to legally own his weapon or how he got hold of it.
At the weekend, the police kept the details of the hostage-taking and related crimes covered. “Further information is currently not possible. The processing of the operation and the investigations will take some time,” it said.
Hostage-taking in Dresden causes fear and terror
An armed man aged 40 caused fear and terror in Dresden on Saturday morning and triggered a large-scale police operation. When the special forces attacked, the German was overwhelmed at noon. He died shortly afterwards from the injuries sustained. Police believe he was mentally ill. It is not yet clear what drove the 40-year-old to commit the crimes.
According to previous knowledge, the man first killed his 62-year-old mother in a residential building in the Prohlis district of Dresden in the morning. He then tried to break into the city center at gunpoint at the radio station Radio Dresden, and fired shots. When he did this, he had a friend’s nine-year-old child with him. He later holed up with the child in the Altmarkt gallery and also took a 38-year-old employee hostage in an office there.
Police stormed the hostage-taking room
According to their own statements, the police had initially tried to persuade the perpetrator to give up. When the special forces called from the State Criminal Police Office heard gunshots in the office, they stormed the room and severely injured the perpetrator. He died a little later. The hostages were unharmed.
The public prosecutor’s office said investigations were being carried out against the hostage-taker who was killed on suspicion of manslaughter. All the background to the crime should also be clarified. The procedure had been initiated before the perpetrator’s death, when he was suspected of having killed his mother. The investigators also want to investigate the circumstances of the hostage-taker’s death.