Crime - Main suspect in custody after attack in Bad Oeynhausen
After the fatal attack on a 20-year-old in the Kurpark of Bad Oeynhausen, a suspect is currently in custody. The 18-year-old has not yet expressed any statements regarding the charges of manslaughter and grievous bodily harm, according to the police and prosecutor.
According to the ongoing investigations, the violence against the victim was solely from the 18-year-old, who is a Syrian national and resides in Bad Oeynhausen. He has previously been noted for violent, property, and drug-related offenses.
At least three other Germans aged 18 are also part of the suspect group. The number of people involved in the crime and what other offenses occurred are part of the ongoing investigations, the investigative authorities stated. It has not been definitively determined what the background and trigger of the fight were.
The police are still looking for witnesses
The autopsy of the 20-year-old confirmed the initial assumptions that he was severely beaten with several blows and kicks to the head, resulting in his later death in the hospital.
The attack on the 20-year-old and his 19-year-old companion occurred on the night of Sunday. The police continue to call for witnesses, photos, and videos that may contain potential evidence of the crime. In the city center, there was a graduation party and an inner-city party that evening. According to a city spokesperson, it was very crowded at the time of the incident.
Remembering the Victim
"I'm glad that 650 people from Bad Oeynhausen and the surrounding area followed my call for a silent memorial for the killed 20-year-old Philip from Minden, and we were able to set a sign of solidarity and humanity in mourning," said Mayor Lars Böckenroder (CDU) to the German Press Agency.
"Given the arrest of an 18-year-old main suspect with a migration background, we now need to have an open and honest discussion about the consequences of this incident," said the mayor. This is a task primarily for federal and state politics, but also for the entire society.
Violent crime sparks political debate
Politicians called for consequences for the 18-year-old alleged main suspect. North Rhine-Westphalia's Minister-President Hendrik Wüst (CDU) expressed his shock over the violent death of the young man on Thursday in Gelsenkirchen. "To lose a child, to lose a brother, that's almost unbearable," said Wüst to journalists. "This perpetrator must be made to face a just punishment." Germany needs "to get better at deporting such intense recidivist offenders, violent offenders who are not German citizens," said Wüst.
The violent incident in the eastern Westphalian town of Bad Oeynhausen fueled the political debate on the expulsion of heavy criminals to countries like Afghanistan or Syria. The deputy SPD Bundestag faction leader Dirk Wiese told the daily newspaper "Welt": "The perpetrator must be held accountable for this with the full force of the law." If it is true that the arrested 18-year-old is a Syrian who had previously been sentenced to prison, he must be deported immediately after serving his sentence, Wiese stated already in the afternoon, before the police and prosecutor finally confirmed his nationality.
The Bundestag politician Klaus Ernst from The Left (Die Linke) described the violence as "a symbol of failed migration and integration policy." In the case of such a serious crime, the perpetrator should now leave Germany, Ernst stated. Martin Hess, the domestic policy spokesman of the AfD Bundestag faction, spoke of a "state failure that costs more and more innocent citizens' lives."
- The public prosecutor's office in Bad Oeynhausen is currently investigating the case of the fatal attack.
- Witnesses are urged to visit the Spa Park in Bad Oeynhausen, where the attack occurred, to provide information to the police.
- The victim of the attack was a 20-year-old from Minden who was attending a prom celebration in North Rhine-Westphalia.
- The suspect, currently in pre-trial detention, has a history of violent, property, and drug-related offenses according to the police and the public prosecutor's office.
- The autopsy results showed that the victim suffered from numerous blows and kicks to the head, leading to his death due to bodily injuries.
- Hendrik Wüst, the CDU's Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia, expressed his shock and called for a just punishment for the suspect.
- The violent incident has sparked a political debate on the expulsion of heavy criminals to countries such as Afghanistan and Syria.
- The suspect is facing charges of manslaughter and grievous bodily harm at the Spa Park in Bad Oeynhausen, a popular location in the city.
- The police are appealing for any photos or videos taken in or around the Spa Park on the night of the attack to aid their investigation.
- The circumstances leading to the attack and the involvement of other individuals in the crime remain under investigation by the police and the public prosecutor's office in Bad Oeynhausen.
