It was the fatal end to a years-long neighbourhood war. The Special Forces shot and killed a man in the Linden neighbourhood of Bochum on Friday evening.
An escalation with a background. A resident of Lindener Street: ‘It’s sad that it had to come to this.’
#Bochum #Werne SEK in Action. pic.twitter.com/ctkeVpcaFa
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The man who died from the police bullets was Serhat B. (32). ‘He insulted, verbally abused and threatened us for years,’ a local resident told the newspaper BILD. A hole in the door of the flat next door bears witness to his outbursts of rage. The 32-year-old had recently tried to kick it in.
The neighbours called the police again and again and filed charges. But the unemployed man would not rest. Serhat B. went crazy again on Friday morning. At 6 a.m., his screams woke the people in the neighbouring houses. Then he calms down again.
When he goes berserk again in the afternoon, throwing cans and rubbish from his flat into the backyard, neighbours call the emergency services and the whole situation escalates when two police officers ring the rioter’s doorbell. A police spokesman: ‘The man stepped out of his flat into the hallway and suddenly attacked the police officers with a hammer. They then drew their service weapons and first tried to verbally restrain the 32-year-old. ‘To no avail. Serhat B. barricaded himself in his flat. A neighbour says: ‘The police had a negotiating team with them. We could hear the officers trying to calm Mr B. down. ‘Put the hammer down, put the hammer down please’, they said to him. ‘But there is no way to communicate with the man. The spokespeople: ‘As it could not be ruled out that the man from Bochum had other weapons, special police forces were called in.’
At dusk, the heavily armed elite police officers in full combat gear prepare for the raid, the apartment block in Bochum is surrounded. Machine guns are loaded, equipment is checked. It is 8.10 p.m. when the Special Task Force (SEK) creeps through the corridor on the first floor. Then a powerful detonation shakes the house and the neighbourhood. The elite unit has blown open a door. As the officers storm into the flat, they are suddenly attacked. Shots are fired. Two hit Serhat B., who dies on the spot.
According to BILD, B. is said to have attacked the heavily armed elite police officers with a hammer when the SEK stormed the flat, leaving the neighbours shocked: ‘The police did everything they could to resolve the situation peacefully.’
The public prosecutor’s office in Bochum is now investigating the background to the fatal attack. A police spokesperson told BILD: ‘There are initial indications that the deceased was mentally ill.’
Bochum: Tödlicher SEK-Einsatz. Hammer-Angreifer terrorisierte Nachbarn | Regional | BILD.de