Three days after the shooting at the funfair, the suspected shooter is in custody: The Lüdenscheid District Court issued an arrest warrant on Tuesday afternoon for premeditated manslaughter against the boy, who is only 16 years old.
The investigators assume that the Syrian shot indiscriminately into the crowd on Saturday, when he fled with five acquaintances after a quarrel. In the process, a fairgoer (40) from Gummersbach, who had been hit in the spleen, died. According to the current state of investigation, the Sudanese was an uninvolved random victim.
He later died of internal bleeding – that he had been hit by a bullet was only revealed during the autopsy on Sunday.
The altercation was preceded by an quarrel between the group, later described as southerners, and a 16-year-old boy – for a trivial reason, it was said. When his father later confronted the young people, they fled – and shot.
The arrested man is said to have fired a sharp weapon, his buddy a blank pistol. The murder weapon has not yet been found.
The suspect is said to be a student of a comprehensive school who has no criminal record. His lawyer Günel Celik: “We are not making any statements at the moment. Before the magistrate, my client also defended himself by remaining silent.”
Shortly after the crime, a witness had published a video showing the suspects fleeing through a garden. While the first run, the buddies go rather leisurely behind.
As the newspaper BILD has learned from investigators, the footage is considered authentic. The video footage (among other things, there are also supposed to be images from surveillance cameras) had led to the arrest of the teenager.
Meanwhile, the municipality of Lüdenscheid is facing strong criticism because the Steinert funfair was not immediately canceled after the crime. Mayor Sebastian Wagemeyer (45, SPD) explained that it wasn’t until Sunday afternoon that it was clear. “Until then, everything had been pure speculation. There was no definite knowledge, no clear factual situation. We didn’t know whether shots had actually been fired and what the victim had died of.”
All those responsible were “deeply shocked and affected in the face of this terrible and deadly act”.
The manhunt for the accomplices is still ongoing. One investigator: “If they don’t turn themselves in, we will get them.”