North Rhine-Westphalia
He built pipe bombs and wanted to kill students and teachers: 17-year-old accused in Essen
A police car in front of the high school in Essen. A student had planned a right-wing extremist attack there.
© Imago Images
If he had gone through with his plans, he would have put a number of people in danger. The police arrested him just a day before he planned to go on a killing spree. Now the trial against a 17-year-old student from Essen begins.
In 2016 there was a racist rampage in Munich with many dead and injured, in 2019 in Halle and in 2020 in Hanau. It is probably only thanks to the police investigation that another perpetrator has now been charged without people having to die first.
The 17-year-old student had already meticulously planned the killing spree in the summer of 2022 when investigators searched his apartment. The crime should have taken place just one day later. Among other things they found with him: knives, machetes, crossbows as well as air pressure and alarm guns, he is also said to have obtained construction plans for bombs and the necessary material. An expert opinion considers the bombs to be “potentially deadly”.
Students wanted to kill teachers and classmates – right-wing extremist motives
The federal prosecutor is certain that the accused wanted to kill students and teachers at his own high school for right-wing extremist motives: “The federal prosecutor assumes that the accused was determined to carry out a racially motivated attack on a high school he attended in Essen “said the representative of the federal prosecutor’s office.
This is also supported by the statements of his lawyer, who announced that his client would confess to the press. Before the attack, he said he had “taken the wrong mental turn on the Internet” and needed “professional help to get back on the right track”.
The Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court will now decide whether this is sufficient. The accused must answer there for preparing a serious act of violence that is dangerous to the state, terrorist financing and violations of the Weapons and Explosives Act. He is currently in custody.