The public prosecutor’s office closes the investigation – SWR Aktuell

The act had caused great horror in January. It is now clear: there will be no legal consequences after the shooting on the Heidelberg university campus in January. The competent Heidelberg public prosecutor’s office announced on Monday that they had discontinued the preliminary investigation. There is no evidence of other perpetrators. The arms dealer in Vienna will not be prosecuted either. According to the public prosecutor’s office in Heidelberg, the sale of the weapons to the 18-year-old perpetrator in Vienna was generally permitted under Austrian law.

A 23-year-old student was killed with the guns in the rampage in Heidelberg on the university campus in Neuenheimer Feld. The perpetrator then shot himself. Eight fellow students of the woman who was killed suffered minor injuries. The shooter’s motive could not be determined with complete certainty. The victim and the perpetrator did not know each other.

“Cooling-off phase” not observed

After the purchase contract has been concluded, a gun seller in Austria must check within a period of three days whether a gun ban applies to the buyer – in Austria this period is called the “cooling-off phase”. The seller violated this.

Determined to go on a rampage

However, according to the public prosecutor’s office, the 18-year-old had been determined to commit the killing spree for a long time. This did not affect the purpose of the “cooling off phase”, namely to prevent spontaneous acts. In addition, the 18-year-old said when he bought it that he wanted to use the guns for hunting.

No abnormalities shown

When buying the weapons, he didn’t show any abnormalities that would indicate what he really intended to do. Extensive investigations into the perpetrator’s personal environment did not reveal any indications of other parties involved who could have committed a criminal offence.