As of: 01/26/2022 6:54 p.m
According to the police, the Heidelberg gunman had bought a total of three firearms in Austria. The suspect is said to have been a member of a right-wing extremist party in his youth.
After the killing spree on a campus of the University of Heidelberg, the investigators have informed about new findings. Accordingly, the alleged perpetrator got his weapons in Austria. The 18-year-old bought three long guns in the country about a week before the crime, police and public prosecutors in Mannheim said. Officers recovered two of the guns and around 150 rounds of ammunition at the scene. The Austrian police found the third weapon in a room that the young man had rented during a stay.
The 18-year-old bought the two weapons used in the crime from an arms dealer and the third from a private individual. According to the information, the extent to which the arms dealer or his employees have to be held criminally responsible for the sale of arms is being examined. This turns out to be difficult due to the different legal situation in the Republic of Austria and the Federal Republic of Germany.
No personal relationship with victims
The search of the suspect’s apartment in Mannheim and the ongoing evaluation of mobile phones, laptops and a tablet did not reveal any evidence of a personal relationship between the alleged perpetrator and the victims.
The 18-year-old is said to have taken a taxi from Mannheim to the crime scene on the Neuenheimer Feld university campus in Heidelberg. The two weapons are said to have been transported in a sports bag in the trunk of the taxi.
Was the suspect right-wing extremist?
According to the information, the investigators are also examining indications that the suspect was a member of the right-wing extremist party The Third Way in the past. In 2019, when he was still a minor, he is said to have resigned from the party. Evaluations of the alleged perpetrator’s digital media and testimonies from his personal environment have so far not revealed any evidence of radicalization or contacts with the right-wing spectrum.
It cannot be ruled out that the suspect’s mental illness could have been the cause of the crime, it said. However, reliable statements on the motive for the crime are reserved for further investigations.
On Monday, the suspect, a student, shot students several times in a lecture hall at Heidelberg University. A 23-year-old student died and three other students were injured. The shooter then killed himself.