crime
Hand grenade on mourners – arrests after attack
The police at the scene of a crime in a cemetery. photo
© Christoph Schmidt/dpa
The attack on a mourners in Altbach draws wider circles. No firecrackers are said to have been thrown at the mourners, but probably a hand grenade. The attack could have ended much worse.
After throwing an explosive device – probably a hand grenade – at a mourners in Altbach in Baden-Württemberg, three young men were arrested during a raid in Ludwigsburg. This was announced by the State Criminal Police Office on Wednesday. They are said to have hit the suspected thrower of the explosive device and hospitalized him. During a raid in the early hours of the morning, the police and LKA searched the homes of the three suspects aged 19, 20 and 21. The men who are known for violent crimes are now to be brought before the magistrate. The “Stuttgarter Zeitung” and the “Stuttgarter Nachrichten” reported about it first.
A man had thrown an explosive device at a mourners in the cemetery in Altbach on Friday. Investigators now believe it was a hand grenade. Police officers found parts of the explosive device in the cemetery, it said. “The complex and extensive investigations by the Forensic Institute of the LKA BW, which have not yet been fully completed, indicate that the explosive device used could be a hand grenade,” they said.
According to research by the “Stuttgarter Nachrichten”, the explosive device was very likely a Yugoslav M75 hand grenade. The grenade hit the branch of a tree in the cemetery and was thus cushioned, the newspaper writes, citing investigators. Worse could have been prevented that way.
According to the LKA spokesman, the men arrested in Ludwigsburg on Wednesday were guests at the funeral. They are said to have followed the man who threw the explosive object into the crowd and beat him so badly that he had to be hospitalized. They are therefore accused of joint attempted manslaughter and joint dangerous bodily harm. The LKA announced that they should be brought before the magistrate.
The alleged thrower of the explosive device, a 23-year-old man, is already in custody. The LKA announced on Monday that an arrest warrant had been issued against him on strong suspicion of attempted manslaughter, causing an explosive explosion and dangerous bodily harm. The Iranian is now able to be questioned, but has still not commented on the matter, it said on Wednesday.
Motive unclear
Ten people were injured in the explosion, one seriously. According to security sources, the mourners suffered “burn and splinter injuries”. According to investigators, up to 500 people had gathered for the funeral of a 20-year-old man. He had died in a train accident in Altbach a week earlier. The police exclude third-party negligence.
The motive for the crime remains unclear. According to the State Criminal Police Office, the investigators are still assuming a single perpetrator. Nevertheless, connections with a series of shots in Baden-Württemberg are not excluded. Police officers found a live firearm and ammunition on the 19-year-old suspect on Wednesday. It is now being investigated whether the weapon was used in the series of shots in the Stuttgart area. The LKA reports indications that “both the firing of shots in public space and the crime in Altbach are related to clashes between two rival groups ready to use violence.”
The public prosecutor’s office in Stuttgart is also investigating other as yet unknown perpetrators who are said to have attacked the 23-year-old at the funeral service and in some cases threatened rescue workers. They are said to have partially prevented the helpers from providing medical care to the 23-year-old.