Deadly shots - Soldier suspected of four murders - charges filed
After the fatal shootings of four people in the Lower Saxony district of Rotenburg, the public prosecutor's office has filed charges. The investigators accuse the soldier, in his own words, of committing four murders. He is alleged to have killed the victims out of hate and revenge, with marital problems being the background. The Verden Regional Court now has to decide on the opening of the proceedings.
The soldier is suspected of having targeted four people with a weapon. The victims did not survive the attack on the night of March 1st. They were all associated with the wife of the alleged perpetrator, who had separated from him. The 32-year-old is first suspected of having killed his wife's new boyfriend and his mother in Scheeßel. Subsequently, he is suspected of having shot a friend of his ex-partner and her three-year-old daughter in Bothel.
The next morning, the German man presented himself at the Von-Düring-Kaserne in the city of Rotenburg (Wümme). Rotenburg is located near the suspected crime scenes. The soldier is said to have driven to the barracks, gotten out of the car, and identified himself. Police officers, who were called, arrested the man. He has been in investigative detention since the crime. According to police statements, the suspect is not a member of the barracks.
The soldier was armed with an assault rifle and a pistol. The weapons, according to investigators, do not come from the Bundeswehr's inventory. In the driver's seat of his car was a Molotov cocktail, in the trunk there was, in addition to a Bundeswehr backpack, ammunition. What the man intended to do with it remained unclear at first.
Shortly before the crime, the still married woman and her new partner – one of the victims – had sought help and reported the suspect for threats. According to investigators, a so-called threat message was made on the same day. The public prosecutor's office announced that it would examine in a separate proceeding whether the suspect had actually threatened the couple before the crime.
The alleged perpetrator, a soldier, is linked to the crime scenes in Scheeßel and Bothel, both located in Lower Saxony, Germany. The public prosecutor's office in Verden has initiated an indictment for suspicion of murder in relation to four victims. The crimes are believed to have been motivated by hate and revenge, stemming from marital issues. Upon arrival at the Von-Düring-Kaserne in Rotenburg (Wümme), the suspect was armed with an assault rifle and a pistol, along with ammunition and a Molotov cocktail, not belonging to the German Armed Forces' inventory. The context of these items remains unclear. Prior to the crime, the victims had sought help and reported threats from the suspect to the public prosecutor's office in the region.
