Mannheim Undergoes Reforms with New Mayor's Leadership - Police investigation ceases following fatal operation.
Following a deadly police operation in Mannheim last December, the investigation initiated by the prosecutor's office has come to a halt. A 49-year-old man suffered fatal injuries during a confrontation with a police officer's gunshots. The charges brought against the officer have been dismissed as 'proven innocence,' according to the prosecutor's announcement. "The findings from the investigation reveal that the officer acted in self-defense and within the law," the statement read. The deceased's family erupted in anger in response.
Just before Christmas, the 49-year-old had made a desperate call to the emergency services. Upon the arrival of the police, he was found waiting on the street, brandishing a knife with a blade measuring at least 15 centimeters. After a prolonged confrontation, a police officer unleashed a volley of bullets towards him, resulting in grievous injuries. The man succumbed to his wounds shortly after in the hospital. His motives remained obscure at the time.
According to recent revelations from the prosecutor's office, video footage captured during the incident showed the man ignored numerous attempts from multiple officers to give up the knife, which was over a foot long. Extensive threats were made by the officers, and their weapons were brandished repeatedly. The man had continuously threatened the officers, demanding that they shoot him. In the final moments, he dashed towards them at a tremendous speed, just one metre away. One of the officers retaliated with a series of shots from his service weapon, striking the man fatally.
In March, the State Criminal Investigation Office had declared the case closed, with the officer who had fired the fatal bullets still on active duty.
The family of the deceased categorized the discontinuation of proceedings as "disturbing" and "ludicrous" in a statement from the Initiative 2nd of May in Mannheim. Emrah Durkal, representing the Initiative, described the development as "a scandal". Demonstrations have been organized for 1st June and 23rd June in protest.
Recently, in April, a 31-year-old man was fatally shot by the police during a mission at the University of Mannheim. The man had gained attention for pasting stickers on furniture and trying to promote them inside a lecture hall. When approached by another man, he was alleged to have attacked him. When the police intervened, the 31-year-old was spotted carrying a machete almost a metre long. The officers responded with gunshots, gravely injuring the man. Afterwards, the man perished in the hospital.
The Interior Ministry had previously clarified that service weapons are strictly limited to the use of 'ultima ratio,' or the most extreme means. The question of whether to employ 'immediate force' lies at the discretion of each individual police officer or policewoman, and must consider the principle of proportionality.
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- Despite the family's strong opposition and calls for justice from the public prosecutor's office in Baden-Württemberg, the police officer involved in the fatal shooting on Christmas Eve in Mannheim was not charged.
- The determination of the 49-year-old man to confront the police with a knife on Christmas Eve resulted in a tense standoff that ended tragically.
- In response to the discontinuation of the investigation, activists from the Initiative 2nd of May in Mannheim have organized demonstrations on 1st June and 23rd June.
- The Police operation on Christmas Eve in Mannheim, which ended in the death of a man wielding a large knife, has generated widespread controversy and calls for accountability from the local public prosecutor's office.
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