process
Deadly mask dispute: victim’s colleague testifies
The defendant faces charges of murder and illegal possession of a firearm. Photo: Sebastian Gollnow/dpa Pool/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
The charges are murder and illegal possession of a weapon. Because he is said to have shot the temporary worker at a gas station, the alleged perpetrator has to answer in court. A colleague of the victim testifies.
The fatal shot at a gas station employee in Rhineland-Palatinate because of a mask dispute has consequences for a colleague of the victim to this day.
If someone comes to the gas station without a mask or with a mask only under their nose, “nothing is said anymore to avoid certain conflicts,” said the 30-year-old employee at the gas station on Friday before the Bad Kreuznach district court. The witness’s shift was to begin immediately after that of the 20-year-old victim who was shot dead in Idar-Oberstein last year.
The 50-year-old alleged perpetrator is charged with murder and illegal possession of weapons. He had confessed to the crime at an earlier trial and gave comprehensive testimony in a statement read by his defense attorney. According to investigations, he wanted to buy beer at the gas station on September 18 last year, which the 20-year-old employee at the gas station refused him because the man was not wearing a mask. After a discussion with the student who worked as a temp at the gas station, he left the gas station. In order to “set a sign” he is said to have come back later to involve the young man in an argument and shoot him.
The case had caused great horror nationwide and a discussion about the increasing radicalism in the dispute over corona restrictions. The testimony of the accused’s partner was actually planned for Friday. But this did not happen.