After the attack in Idar-Oberstein, more and more details about the perpetrator are known. Several parties now give the AfD complicity.
Update from Thursday, 09/23/2021, 8:30 a.m.: After the murder of the gas station cashier in Idar-Oberstein, more and more details about the perpetrator are known (see update from 1:20 p.m.). In addition, other politicians comment on the crime. Several domestic politicians have now blamed the AfD on the editorial network Germany for the radicalization of the so-called lateral thinking scene. “The AfD is the top agent of political radicalization in Germany,” said Konstantin Kuhle, domestic policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group.
Ute Vogt, domestic policy spokeswoman for the SPD parliamentary group, raised serious allegations against the alternative for Germany: “Since entering the German Bundestag, the AfD has made a significant contribution to the enormous increase in hatred and agitation on the streets and in social media “, She emphasized.
Idar-Oberstein: FDP and SPD see complicity in AfD – Union relativized
Mathias Middelberg, domestic political spokesman for the Union parliamentary group, put the AfD criticism into perspective: “It is too easy to look for the reasons for this horrific act with the AfD alone.” Nevertheless, the party contributes to a strong polarization of society with its “targeted provocations” , so Middelberg. The confessed suspect had surrounded himself for years in social networks with violent fantasies and right-wing ideas (see update from 9.00 a.m.).
+++ 1.20 p.m.: The alleged perpetrator of Idar-Oberstein was not known to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. This is what Malu Dreyer, Prime Minister of Rhineland-Palatinate, said on Wednesday afternoon. According to Dreyer, the authorities are currently investigating how the 49-year-old was able to get hold of a weapon unnoticed.
With regard to violent fantasies and right-wing ideas, which the confessed 49-year-old disseminated on Twitter and other platforms before the act (see update from 9:00 a.m.), the Prime Minister said: “The Internet is not a legal vacuum.” The security authorities would oppose it Hatred and agitation take place on the Internet, Dreyer said.
Editor’s correction: In an earlier version of the article we reported that Prime Minister Dreyer had said that the shooter was known to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Dreyer had denied this, however.
We apologize for this error.
Update from Wednesday, September 22nd, 2021, 9:00 a.m.: The alleged perpetrator from Idar-Oberstein probably spread right thoughts and violent fantasies on the Internet for years. This is shown by research by the think tank “Center for Monitoring, Analysis and Strategy”. Accordingly, the 49-year-old came in contact with tweets from AfD accounts. “The alleged perpetrator shares right-wing channels, comments on Trump, believes that climate change is a lie,” said the institute on Twitter.
As reported by ZDF, the alleged perpetrator is said to have been in contact with AfD politician Björn Höcke. According to the report, he contacted him about the right-wing terrorist attack in Halle – and described it as “no coincidence”. “The account liked and retweeted particularly often legally open accounts, for example Hans-Georg Maaßen, Boris Reitschuster and Hartes Geld,” it continues.
Idar-Oberstein: Alleged perpetrator spreads violent fantasies – and right-wing ideas
He also spread violent fantasies: “I’m looking forward to the next war. Yes, that may sound destructive now, but we can’t get out of this spiral, ”the 49-year-old once posted on Twitter. In addition to right-wing ideas, he was also very critical of the Corona measures in Germany. Zeit Online reports that the 49-year-old wrote on the LinkedIn career portal that wearing a mask made him “restricted breathing”. The fact that the rejection of the corona measures is one of his alleged motives became clear during the first interrogations by the police.
Update from Tuesday, 09/21/2021, 11.00 a.m.: After a 49-year-old shot a 20-year-old student gas station assistant in the head, the hatred spreads in the social networks. This is how right-wing extremists defend the perpetrator, who is said to have simply had “fed up”. As the Berliner Tagesspiegel reports, the chat channel on Telegram of the right-wing extremist conspiracy narrator Sven Liebich is full of posts defending the shooter’s act.
“If it hits the right people, I don’t mind,” should be the reaction of a user. And it goes on: “No pity. Always annoy people with the mask shit. Someday somebody goes crazy. Good this way.” The perpetrator had given the police as a reason for his act that he did not want to wear a corona protective mask.
Gas station assistant killed with headshot – gunner’s weapon not legal
Meanwhile, according to the prosecutor, the investigation will take a few more weeks. “We have to get a clear picture of ourselves now,” said Chief Public Prosecutor Kai Fuhrmann on Tuesday (21.09.2021) in Mainz. During this time, the authority does not want to issue any “water level reports” about the status of the investigation. “The fine-tuning of the investigation is only really starting now.”
The investigators hope for more clarity from the evaluation of the man’s seized electronic devices. Fuhrmann did not want to provide any information about his life situation during the ongoing investigation. The man has never been noticed by the police anywhere, not even as a participant in a demonstration. “He did not legally own the weapons.” Where they came from is still completely unclear.
Man kills gas station assistant (20) with a shot in the head – because he did not want to wear a corona mask
First report from Monday, September 20, 2021, 8:15 p.m .: Idar-Oberstein – It is a brutal crime that shakes Rhineland-Palatinate. In Idar-Oberstein, the young employee at a petrol station advised a customer to wear a mask and refused to buy him. The man returned a little later and shot the 20-year-old student who worked at the gas station in the head with a pistol.
The 49-year-old perpetrator was so annoyed about the situation after being rejected when buying beer that he had pocketed a revolver at home and drove to the gas station again to provoke the 20-year-old seller, said Chief Public Prosecutor Kai Fuhrmann about the act.
Idar-Oberstein: Gas station assistant shot “without hesitation”
When the young student, who worked as a temporary worker at the gas station, again pointed out to him that he must wear a mask on his second visit, the 49-year-old shot the cashier “in the head from the front,” said Fuhrmann. The victim was dead immediately. The man carried out the act “without hesitation”. It was clear to him that he had killed the employee. An arrest warrant for murder was issued against the suspect at the Bad Kreuznach District Court. He was taken into custody on high suspicion of murder.
The alleged perpetrator confessed to the fact. As for the motive, he stated that the situation of the Corona * pandemic was a heavy burden on him. He felt pushed into a corner and “saw no other way out” than to set an example. The victim seemed to him “responsible for the overall situation, since it had enforced the rules,” said Fuhrmann. The alleged perpetrator testified that he rejects the corona measures.
According to the investigations so far, the 49-year-old had entered the sales room of the gas station without a mask at 8 p.m. on Saturday (September 18, 2021) and placed two six-packs of beer on the counter at the cash register. He later said he forgot the mask. The cashier pointed out the mask requirement to the man – whereupon the man left the room and threateningly raised his hand.
Idar-Oberstein: The suspect came back and provocatively took off his corona mask
At about 9.25 p.m. he appeared again at the gas station – this time he wore a mask, took another six-pack of beer and went to the cash register. “There he took off the mouth and nose cover,” said Fuhrmann. The cashier had again advised the man to comply with the mask requirement: The 49-year-old then pulled a revolver out of his trouser pocket and shot the 20-year-old employee.
The perpetrator then fled on foot. A large manhunt in the night initially brought no results, it said. Since there were recordings from the surveillance cameras, the police were able to quickly publish a photo of the man and initiate a public manhunt. Due to the danger posed by the gunman, the police had warned against taking hitchhikers in the Idar-Oberstein area.
On Sunday morning (September 19, 2021), the suspect then appeared in front of the Idar-Oberstein police station, accompanied by a woman, where he was arrested by special forces. “We assume that he wanted to surrender,” said Trier’s police chief Friedel Durben. “This is definitely a special case: We did not have such an act in either the Trier police headquarters or in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate that suggests a connection to Corona.”
Killing at a gas station: “A very unbelievable, terrible act that happened here in Idar-Oberstein”
“That is a very unbelievable, terrible act that happened here in Idar-Oberstein,” said Mayor Frank Frühauf (CDU). This can also be seen in the great concern of the local people. Many would have laid flowers and wreaths at the gas station. “You can’t compare such an act with anything. It will take a while to process that, ”he said.
According to the information, the suspect comes from Idar-Oberstein – as does his victim. He has not yet appeared with the police. During the search of his apartment, the investigators found the murder weapon as well as other firearms and ammunition. According to the police, the origin of the weapons still has to be clarified.
Information as to whether the suspect was active in the milieu of corona skeptics and conspiracy believers * was initially not available. The journalist and scene expert Julius Geiler wrote on the short message service Twitter: “For a year and a half, many colleagues who deal with the topic have been warning of a radicalized corona movement.” (Tvd / ktho / tu with dpa / AFP) * fr.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.
