Another guilty verdict
Trier gunman suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and has to be hospitalized
Mourning in Trier after the shooting spree at the end of 2020
© Jean-Christophe Verhaegen / AFP
Due to legal errors, the trial surrounding the deadly shooting spree in Trier had to be reopened. The new verdict is the same as the first – despite the perpetrator’s considerable psychological problems.
Guilty of six murders, multiple attempted murders and multiple attempted manslaughter: in the newly reopened trial of the shooting spree that left six dead in Trier, the defendant is again sentenced to life imprisonment. It was “a terrible act!” which “shocked the whole of Trier and brought so much suffering” to many families, said presiding judge Armin Hardt at the Trier Regional Court.
On December 1, 2020, the gunman raced through the pedestrian zone in an off-road vehicle and deliberately hit passers-by. Five people died immediately and there were dozens injured and traumatized. At the end of February, another man died as a result of the serious injuries he sustained in the crime.
Shooting spree in Trier: man has to go to closed clinic
The jury chamber also determined the particular gravity of the guilt and ordered the man to be placed in a closed psychiatric clinic. All of this was also the tenor of the regional court’s ruling in August 2022. The gunman suffers from paranoid schizophrenia with delusions. Therefore, according to a psychiatric report, he has reduced culpability, said Hardt. However, he was not guilty of the crime.
The electrician, who was unemployed and homeless at the time of the crime, remained silent about the allegations in the second trial. The focus of the partial new edition was primarily on the question of the guilt of the now 54-year-old. Judge Hardt said there was the murder characteristic of treachery. “The victims were completely innocent and defenseless during the attack.” According to the report, the man is considered a danger to the public.
Victim advocates: Must finally give closure
With the verdict, the court followed the demands of the public prosecutor. The gunman’s defense had demanded an acquittal on grounds of incompetence and placement in a closed clinic.
The victims’ lawyers joined the public prosecutor’s office and called on the defendant to accept the verdict and not appeal again. There must finally be a conclusion and peace, they said.