First a shock, then relief, but also the day after one of the big topics of conversation among Munich students: the spectacular police operation because of an armed student in a lecture. “The emergency plan worked well yesterday, the police were on site in a few minutes – they don’t have to go far either,” said a spokeswoman for the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. Everything went exemplary. Even if it almost sounds like it on Wednesday, what happened on Wednesday in the central hall of the LMU was not an emergency exercise entitled “Armed Student in the Audimax”.
Introduction to mathematics for business administration was on the timetable, and the hall, which seats around 800 people, was well filled. Suddenly plainclothes police officers came in and took a fellow student away. “We were confused at first,” said an 18-year-old fellow student who was sitting in the hall.
Very few would have noticed what some had noticed: a young man who leaned forward during a lecture so that a pistol in a holster was clearly visible on the waistband at the back under the jacket. Someone called the police. Many police cars pulled up outside, the first emergency report sounded like a dangerous situation.
The news spread rapidly in the students’ chat groups
Inside, heads snapped towards the entrance as the 18-year-old man was escorted outside. The lecturer tried to continue the event, incredulous laughter can be heard on a video. The news spread rapidly in the students’ chat groups, and photos and videos went viral.
Then the all clear came quickly. The 18-year-old student was allowed to carry the alarm gun with him, according to the police he has the necessary small gun license. You can acquire it at the age of 18 if you meet the legal requirements. These include alarm, irritant and signal weapons, which you can carry in public, in your own home or on your own business premises. The police obviously took that for granted.
At the university, many are now wondering why one had to be armed in a lecture and, above all, why the student had to show it so conspicuously. For many fellow students, the first serious concerns and questions quickly gave way to relief, and in the canteen they joked about it shortly afterwards, said the eyewitness. The experience did not lead to any traumatic consequences in his environment. On the contrary, things continue as normal for the first semester students after this exciting day in the first weeks of study.