Lower Saxony
Remembering the four victims of the fatal shooting
Flowers and candles lie in front of a single-family home in Scheeßel. photo
© Sina Schuldt/dpa
Even days after the fatal shots at four people in the Rotenburg district of Lower Saxony, what happened is still incomprehensible. Relatives and friends mourn the victims.
Candles burn in front of the brick house in Lower Saxony Scheeßel, mourners have placed flowers. Someone has drawn six hearts on a yellow piece of paper, a final message to the four victims of the shooting in the Rotenburg (Wümme) district.
A few days after the fatal attack on a child and three adults, relatives and friends are getting married. The Protestant church invites you to memorial services today in the Brockel Holy Cross Church and in the Westervesede cemetery chapel. “Come together, endure the pain together, share thoughts and light candles,” is the motto from the Rotenburg church district without many words.
A Bundeswehr soldier is suspected of having aimed a weapon at four people in the two communities. The victims did not survive the attack on Friday night. They all came from the alleged perpetrator’s wife’s environment; the two had separated. The 32-year-old is said to have killed her new boyfriend and his mother in Scheeßel. He is then said to have shot a friend of his ex-partner and her three-year-old child in Bothel, a few kilometers away.
The weapons authority was not aware of the report
Shortly before, the estranged wife and her new boyfriend – one of the victims – had sought help and reported the suspect for threats. The new relationship led to conflict, said a police spokesman. According to the investigators, a so-called threat speech took place on the same day. Police officers explained the situation to the 32-year-old and described possible consequences. “There were no further indications of an imminent escalation of the conflict.”
The Rotenburg (Wümme) district weapons authority said it was unaware of any complaint against the suspect. “There are no indications in the documents of a possible threat from the perpetrator,” said a spokeswoman for the district on Wednesday. “The district has not received a criminal complaint from the police.” If the gun authority receives a complaint against a gun owner, an investigation is usually initiated.
According to the district, the German suspect has a card with three weapons listed. The man demonstrated the requirements for this. The authority checked the so-called reliability under gun law in September 2023. The Federal Central Register, the State Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the police were queried. There were no abnormalities. The storage of weapons should be checked in the spring of this year. The next test would have been due in 2025.
The semi-automatic rifle with which the suspect is said to have fired is not generally banned in Germany. A spokeswoman for the Lower Saxony Ministry of the Interior told the dpa that it can be purchased without any further requirements if a so-called need under weapons law as a hunter or sport shooter is proven. The rules of gun law apply nationwide.
Police are looking for witnesses
“The internal police processes are currently being examined in advance of the crime,” the police say. The police will not provide any further information until the trial is complete. The public prosecutor’s office announced that it would conduct its own investigation into whether the suspect had actually threatened the couple before the crime.
A homicide commission is now tasked with clarifying the background to the shooting. Investigators are also asking the public for help. People who saw a black car in the area around the crime scenes before March 1st or on the day itself should come forward. The suspect may have been traveling by car during the crimes. The police spokesman said they wanted to create a movement image.
Molotov cocktail and ammunition in the car
After the shots, the German is said to have surrendered at the Von Düring barracks in the city of Rotenburg (Wümme). Rotenburg (Wümme) is close to the suspected crime scenes. The soldier drove to the barracks, got out of his car and identified himself. Police arrested the man. According to investigators, the suspect is not a member of the barracks.
The soldier was armed with an assault rifle and a pistol. According to investigators, the weapons did not come from the Bundeswehr’s stocks. There was a Molotov cocktail in the driver’s door of his car and ammunition in the trunk next to a Bundeswehr backpack. What the man intended to do with it initially remained unclear.