One day after the deadly shots at two young police officers in the Palatinate, an arrest warrant was issued against the two suspects. The responsible public prosecutor announced that they were being investigated for hunting poaching and joint murder. A 38-year-old and a 32-year-old were arrested in Sulzbach, Saarland, on Monday evening. Investigators assume that both shot the police officers.
In addition, the police apparently seized a large arsenal of weapons that they found during several house searches. The murder weapons were probably among them. The German Press Agency reported five handguns, a bolt-action rifle, ten other long guns, a crossbow, a silencer and ammunition.
What is known about the fact
The crime has not yet been fully reconstructed, the investigators said at a press conference. One thing is clear: a police candidate and a chief inspector were shot in the head at around 4:20 a.m. during a check near Kusel, near the Saarland border. The woman was killed with one shot from a shotgun and the man with four shots from a hunting rifle.
According to the investigators, the two police officers had checked a van on a district road. During the check, they radioed that a shot would be fired. The policeman also drew his gun and fired back 14 times – until he too was hit. About ten minutes later, reinforcements arrived at the scene. The officers found their colleague dead in front of their civilian police vehicle, the colleague seriously injured and no longer responsive behind them on an embankment.
The possible motive
The investigators know from a radio message that the two police officers had discovered many dead wild animals in the van. They suspect the two suspects killed the officers to cover up the fact that they had been poaching. This fulfills the murder characteristic of covering up another criminal offence.
The two suspects
The 38-year-old game dealer from Saarland does not have a legally binding criminal record, but is known to the police for various investigations – for hunting poaching and a hit-and-run, as announced on Tuesday. According to prosecutors, he has not yet commented on the matter. The German Hunting Association said the 38-year-old was not in possession of a valid hunting license. According to the current state of knowledge, the responsible authority in Saarland rejected his application for a new hunting license due to lack of reliability. The investigators spoke of economic problems, the man had lived separately from his family. There is evidence that poaching may have been commercial. There was also a procedure against the man in Saarland in connection with an insolvency.
The 32-year-old, in turn, admitted during the interrogations that he had poached, and he also confirmed the shooting, the police said. But he denied shooting himself. Because of fraud offenses he had already become conspicuous. Investigators now assume that there are no other suspects. There is “no knowledge whatsoever” about the political background to the crime, such as connections to the so-called Reich Citizens scene.
The manhunt
At the crime scene, investigators found the driver’s license and ID card of the 38-year-old from Saarland; he was finally publicly searched for with a picture on Monday. According to the police, he was arrested in front of the 32-year-old’s home in Sulzbach, Saarland. She became aware of this because there was a car with bullet holes in front of it. The police had checked several addresses and vehicles that could be linked to the 38-year-old. He had not registered any vehicles himself. He was caught leaving the home, according to investigators.
The police then searched the house, found the 32-year-old there and arrested him as well. In both cases, according to the police, this happened without resistance. Both were brought before a judge on Tuesday morning, who issued an arrest warrant against them.
The police operation at night
The crime scene near the district town of Kusel is in a very rural location, and a larger police presence there is rather unusual. Nevertheless, three police vehicles were driving between the towns of Ulmet and Blaubach that night, one civilian car and two patrol cars. The officers, explains investigator Heiner Schmolzi, were looking for a burglar that night. Your mission initially had nothing to do with the two men who have now been arrested. During these investigations, the policewoman and her colleague in the civilian vehicle apparently became aware of the vehicle owned by the two Saarlanders, which they then checked, whereupon the shots were fired.
The dead cops
The 24-year-old woman was still in training. She studied at the Rhineland-Palatinate Police University, did an internship at the Kusel police station and was about to complete her training. Her 29-year-old colleague was a police superintendent. Both come from Saarland.
Sympathy for the police
Shortly after the crime, politicians and representatives of the police unions were shocked by the crime and expressed their sympathy. “My sympathy goes to the relatives of the two young victims. And I think of the many police officers who risk their lives every day to protect us citizens,” tweeted Chancellor Scholz. The Prime Minister of Rhineland-Palatinate, Malu Dreyer (SPD), ordered mourning flags for the state, and the flags were also flown at half-mast in Saarland. In many federal states, black ribbons hang on police patrol cars.
The fact that two men started shooting completely unexpectedly and killed for a comparatively insignificant reason – that they were caught poaching – “that doesn’t fit our idea of Germany,” said senior public prosecutor Udo Gehring. Police President Michael Denne reported that the police in Kaiserslautern had experienced a “wave of solidarity”. Individuals from across the country have come forward and expressed their condolences. “We are shocked and deeply saddened by this act. And our thoughts are with the families,” Denne said.
The death of the two was very close to all colleagues. He visited the mother of one of the two victims in the morning. “You already have tears in your eyes,” Denne said. He knew the officer who was killed personally, it was a very likeable colleague.
The lessons of the case
At the press conference, chief investigator Schmolzi was asked whether the police had to change their guidelines or concepts for control operations like this one. No, says the deputy chief of police. “Nothing went wrong there.” Such an act is a “very rare event”; it was 50 years ago that a police officer was shot dead in the area of responsibility of his presidency. “I don’t think we can prevent that,” said Schmolzi. The two police officers wore protective vests – they were killed by shots in the head.