After the killing spree at Heidelberg University that left two dead and three injured, investigators continued their work on Tuesday. There are unanswered questions about the motive of the perpetrator and why he got his hands on the gun. The 18-year-old is said to have bought it abroad a few days ago, as the Mannheim police chief Siegfried Kollmar said on Monday evening.
According to current knowledge, the investigators assume that the German first shot several times in a lecture hall in which around 30 students were and later shot himself in front of the building. A 19- and 20-year-old woman and a 20-year-old man were slightly injured by the shots, a 23-year-old died as a result.
According to the police, the man had just sent a Whatsapp message to his father. He wrote “that people have to be punished now,” said Kollmar. Details still need to be verified. “We will now examine his surroundings in the next few days, with high pressure.”
The head of the public prosecutor’s office in Heidelberg, Andreas Herrgen, said that a motive could only be speculated about so far. The perpetrator had no criminal record. The investigators would also have to check whether others were guilty of something under criminal law.
100 shots were still in the backpack
The man had more than 100 rounds of ammunition in a backpack with him, in addition to the purchase receipts for two guns. So he could have reloaded and kept shooting, police chief Kollmar made clear.
Both the city and the university itself are planning funeral services. The churches and victim protection organizations such as the White Ring have offered help that the injured, relatives and witnesses of the crime can turn to. It is also about financial support. The victims’ representative of the Baden-Württemberg state government, Alexander Schwarz, expressed his deep shock and sympathy.
State Interior Minister Thomas Strobl campaigned to accept the help offered. Students sitting in the tutorial would have to process the terrible event. He very much hopes that they “recover quickly in body and soul,” said the CDU politician. In addition, universities must be able to remain fear-free spaces, said Strobl.
The Baden-Württemberg Science Minister Theresia Bauer (Greens) said the attack had taken place in a place that stands for openness and encounters and should offer security. Universities should be protected as such places. Those affected would now have to “cope with something that is difficult to deal with”.
The police union praised the quick arrival of the emergency services. Since the shooting spree in Winnenden in 2009, the Baden-Württemberg police have been training their employees specifically for such events, said the deputy state chairman of Baden-Württemberg, Thomas Mohr. Special amok equipment was also purchased. That has now proven itself, said Mohr. “We were able to prevent worse things from happening.”