crime
Investigations continue after gunman shot
The police do not believe that the crime is related to the European Football Championship. Photo
© Bodo Marks/dpa
A 39-year-old threatened passers-by and police officers near Hamburg’s Reeperbahn with a slate hammer and a Molotov cocktail – the officers shot. What was the man’s motive?
After police shot a 39-year-old man near the The investigation is now continuing into the attack on the Reeperbahn in Hamburg-St. Pauli with a slate hammer and a Molotov cocktail. According to the police, the German may have acted in a state of psychological emergency. There are no indications of his motivation so far. A police spokesman did not want to give any information about his place of residence.
Shortly before the incident, there was a march with around 13,000 Dutch fans in the St. Pauli district because of the European Championship match between the Netherlands and Poland. However, the march had already ended by the time the operation took place, the police said. There was no indication that the incident was related to the European Football Championship.
According to police, the man had come out of a snack bar on Silbersackstrasse. He approached passers-by and police officers in a threatening manner with a slate hammer and a Molotov cocktail in his hand. He did not comply with the order to drop both, the police said.
Man doesn’t let pepper spray stop him
Even the use of pepper spray did not stop him. The officers eventually fired. The man was hit and fell to the ground. He received immediate medical help and was taken to a hospital. Police officers or innocent third parties were not injured.
During the incident, some Dutch fans were still in the immediate vicinity of the crime scene. As can be heard in video recordings circulating on social media, they received instructions from the police announced in Dutch over loudspeakers, which were supported by Dutch colleagues because of the fan festival.
According to the police, the man is to be taken into custody. The homicide squad has taken over the investigation. “With regard to the use of firearms by the emergency services, the Internal Investigations Department of the Interior Ministry has taken over the investigations, as is usual in such cases,” it said.