The police are looking for four men who broke out of a psychiatric ward in the Heilbronn district. The authorities warned that the fugitives could be armed.
Weinsberg – Four men fled a closed ward of a clinic in Weinsberg, Baden-Württemberg near Heilbronn on Wednesday evening.
The fugitives, including three convicted criminals, are considered dangerous and may be armed, the police announced on Thursday. So far there has been no concrete evidence of weapons, said a police spokesman. “But of course we can’t rule it out.” The authorities warned against taking hitchhikers with you.
In the search, the investigators rely on clues from the population. The police published names and descriptions of the four men between the ages of 24 and 37, and photos of them were published by the State Criminal Police Office. Witnesses were asked to report suspicious persons via the emergency number 110. According to a spokesman, a police helicopter was also used in the search for the four men; further details about the search were initially not wanted for reasons of tactical investigations.
Background of the escape is still unclear
The police initially left other questions unanswered. Why the four men had been housed in the closed ward and in the clinic for the penal system remained unclear, as was the question of how they could escape from the complex on Wednesday evening at around 10 p.m. The penal system is about the accommodation of mentally ill or addictive offenders. The aim is to ensure the protection of the population and therapy for patients.
The Klinikum am Weissenhof – Center for Psychiatry Weinsberg is an academic teaching hospital of the University of Heidelberg. It is under the supervision of the state of Baden-Württemberg and offers psychiatric, psychotherapeutic and psychosomatic treatment and care for mentally ill people in the Heilbronn region.
In 2015, a 60-year-old patient was killed in the penal system in Weinsberg. At that time, the suspicion was directed against the man’s roommate. The 34-year-old suspect hanged himself when the case was heard before the Heilbronn district court. dpa
