Rampage in Münster

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Expressions of mourning at the Kiepenkerl memorial the day after

During the rampage in Münster on April 7, 2018, a 48-year-old man drove a minibus into a group of people at the Kiepenkerl monument in the center of the Westphalian city ​​of Münster . Four people died and more than 20 were injured, some seriously. The perpetrator then shot himself. After investigations, the police ruled out a political or extremist background; the act was apparently an extended suicide .

did

Sequence of events

Place with the Kiepenkerl monument and the restaurant "Großer Kiepenkerl" (2014)

On Saturday, April 7th, 2018 at around 3:27 pm a VW California (T5) minibus was steered into a group of people who were on the outside terrace of the “Großer Kiepenkerl” restaurant. This is located on the square at the Kiepenkerl monument in the center of Münster, directly on the traffic-calmed, but publicly accessible Spiekerhof street ; at the time of the crime it was very busy because of the fine weather.

Four people were killed and more than 20 injured, six of them seriously. The volleyball player Chiara Hoenhorst was one of the injured .

Perpetrator

The perpetrator was a 48-year-old German citizen named Jens Alexander R., who lived in Münster and worked as an industrial designer. He came from the Sauerland , grew up in Madfeld and graduated from the Petrinum Brilon grammar school. He owned other apartments in Pirna and Heidenau near Dresden . He suffered from mental health problems.

There had been five criminal proceedings against Jens R., three of them with the Münster public prosecutor and two with the Arnsberg public prosecutor. The proceedings in Arnsberg dealt with two "disputes in the family area" from 2014 and 2016. In Münster he was accused of unauthorized removal from the scene of the accident (2015), damage to property (2015) and fraud (2016). All proceedings were dropped due to insufficient suspicion.

The police ruled out a political or extremist background. The act was assessed as an extended suicide for personal reasons.

Investigations

Memorial plaque

Police officers seized the illegally obtained pistol used for the suicide in the vehicle and found a alarm gun and around a dozen illegal firecrackers, so-called " Polish firecrackers ". On the evening of the crime, Jens R.'s apartment in Münster was searched. More firecrackers and an unusable AK 47 assault rifle were found.

The Federal Criminal Police Office switched on an online information portal.

In the murderer's vehicle, the police found three more projectiles in bullet holes in the backrest and seat of the back seat. There is currently no information as to whether the projectiles came from the gun of the gunman.

Reactions

City of Munster

A condolence book was displayed in the town hall. The day after the crime, Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer , NRW State Interior Minister Herbert Reul , NRW Prime Minister Armin Laschet and the Mayor of Münster, Markus Lewe, visited the crime scene together and laid flowers and candles there. On Sunday evening an ecumenical memorial service "for the victims of yesterday" took place in Münster Cathedral , which was led by Bishop Felix Genn and attended by 1,600 people.

The Münster University Hospital called for blood donations. The response was so great that the call could be suspended a little later.

Federal and state government

Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer called the act a “cowardly and brutal crime”, and “there is no absolute security against such acts”. North Rhine-Westphalia Prime Minister Armin Laschet spoke of "a terrible day for our country". Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was deeply shocked.

news

The ARD originally planned a hotspot broadcast for 8:15 p.m. After “apparently no terrorist background”, it was canceled again.

International

The act also met with extraordinarily broad media coverage internationally; TV stations, internet portals and print media mentioned them in a prominent place.

Dissemination of fake news

media

Soon after the crime, the police asked not to spread speculation. Nevertheless, shortly after the crime, there were live television reports from n-tv and Welt , in which, among other things, there were reports on two fled perpetrators and explosives allegedly deposited in the truck, as well as bombs being disused. Commentators also made references to the refugee crisis . These claims soon turned out to be false reports .

For Deutschlandfunk , Christoph Sterz criticized the n-tv reporter Ulrich Klose, among others, for the “defamatory” use of the “racist term [s] ' passport Germans ', which means Germans with a migration background.” This is what Klose called the suspect after whose personal data became known. Rainer Wendt , Federal Chairman of the German Police Union , also took part in the speculation and expressed in the context of the live coverage of the 'Welt' that "in Germany a terrorist attack with everyday objects is possible". A day later, the broadcaster n-tv announced a strong audience rate of 3.5% on twitter.

AfD MPs

Members of the right-wing populist AfD publicly suspected Islamist terrorists or refugees as perpetrators before the initial results of the investigation .

For example, the party's deputy group leader in the Bundestag, Beatrix von Storch , wrote on Twitter: “ We can do it”, an allusion to the federal government's migration policy, with an angry smiley face. CSU General Secretary Markus Blume asked von Storch to return her Bundestag mandate , while North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Minister Herbert Reul found the statement "irresponsible". Von Storch later apologized. However, she wrote on Twitter that the perpetrator was an “imitator” of violent Islamist criminals.

Two days after the car attack, when there were still no indications of an Islamist or Muslim background to the crime, the AfD member of the state parliament André Poggenburg tweeted that the perpetrator had converted to Islam . The German media would keep this silent.

Norbert Kleinwächter , also a member of the Bundestag for the AfD, tweeted that “deluded Islamists , these ticking time bombs” were responsible. After it became known that the suspect was a native German, Kleinwächter deleted the tweet.

literature

Franz-Josef Hücker: "Extended suicide" on the Kiepenkerl. Categorization, biographical reconstruction (psychological autopsy), suicide prophylaxis. In: Suizidprophylaxe - Theory and Practice No. 175, Issue 4 2018, Volume 45 (S. Roderer Verlag Regensburg), pp. 141–146.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Another victim of the Münster rampage
  2. ^ Westfälische Nachrichten of April 26, 2018: Fourth fatality after shooting amok
  3. ↑ Jörg Diehl, Kevin Hagen, Lena Greiner: Attack in Münster: the perpetrator is said to have had psychological problems. In: Spiegel Online . April 7, 2018, accessed April 8, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Münster: Small truck races in a crowd - three dead, many injured. In: Focus Online . April 7, 2018, accessed April 8, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Car drives in a crowd - dead and dozens injured in Münster. In: world . April 7, 2018, accessed April 8, 2018 .
  6. ↑ Police identify fatalities. In: Spiegel Online. April 8, 2018, accessed April 8, 2018 .
  7. ^ The perpetrator from Münster comes from Madfeld - A village in shock
  8. ↑ a b Michael Behrendt, Willi Keinhorst, Martin Lutz, Claudia Ehrenstein: Amokfahrt von Münster: Jens R. obviously calculated his deed in a perfidious way. In: world . April 7, 2018, accessed on April 8, 2018 (video; duration 2:18; at 0:57 StA Elke Adomeit; at 1:50 a line of 20 people in front of the UKM; at 1:55 tweet UKM).
  9. ↑ The police and public prosecutor's office announce further results of the investigation into the crime in Münster. In: Joint press release by the Münster Public Prosecutor and the Münster Police. Retrieved April 10, 2018 .
  10. ↑ Reul: No evidence of an Islamist motive. In: FAZ April 7, 2018, accessed April 8, 2018 .
  11. ↑ The alleged perpetrator wrote a long letter to friends. In: Zeit Online . April 8, 2018, accessed April 8, 2018 .
  12. ↑ Investigators are certain: the driver acted with suicide intent. In: Joint press release by the Münster Public Prosecutor and the Münster Police. Retrieved April 10, 2018 .
  13. ↑ [1]
  14. ↑ a b c Camping bus drives in a crowd - two people die, the perpetrator judges himself - information portal set up by the BKA. In: Joint press release by the Münster Public Prosecutor and the Münster Police. Retrieved April 10, 2018 .
  15. ↑ rampaging amok in Münster: police find bullet holes in the crime car . ( weser-kurier.de [accessed on April 27, 2018]).
  16. ↑ Attack in Münster: Hundreds of victims remembered: The search for clues continues orf.at, April 8, 2018, accessed April 9, 2018.
  17. ↑ "Cowardly and Brute Crime". In: spiegel.de. Retrieved April 8, 2018 .
  18. ↑ Despite the announcement: The first renounced the Münster “focal point”. meedia.de, accessed on April 13, 2018.
  19. ↑ No "focal point" for the assassination attempt in Münster. deutschlandfunkkultur.de, April 8, 2018, accessed on April 13, 2018.
  20. ^ Driver in German van attack had mental problems. In: The Straits Times, Singapore . Retrieved April 11, 2018 . .
    International: Driver of death from Münster acted with intent to commit suicide , Salzburger Nachrichten , Austria, April 10, 2018.
    Attaque à Münster: une voiture fonce dans la foule et fait deux morts, l'attentat exclu pour le moment , RTBF , Belgium, April 7, 2018 .
    Allemagne: ce que l'on sait de l'attaque de Münster , BFM TV , France, April 7, 2018.
    Allemagne: à Münster, un véhicule fonce sur la foule, la piste islamiste exclue , Le Monde , France, 7. April 2018.
    El autor del atropello mortal de Münster, un alemán de conducta agresiva que buscaba suicidarse , El Mundo , Spain, April 8, 2018.
    German van attack: 'Suspect had mental health problems' , BBC , United Kingdom, April 8 2018.
    Germany van attack: Driver killed himself after plowing into crowd in northern city of Munster, police confirm , The Independent , United Kingdom, April 7, 2018.
    German van driver had run-ins with police, suicidal thoughts , Washington Post , USA , April 8, 2018.
    German van driver had ru n-ins with police, suicidal thoughts ( memento of the original from April 13, 2018 in the Internet Archive )     Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , ABC News , USA, April 8, 2018. Germany still clueless about motive for fatal van attack , CNBC , USA, April 8, 2018. German city of Münster searches for answers, days after deadly van attack , USA Today , USA, 10 April 2018. Driver in deadly German van crash had history of mental illness , New York Post , USA, 7 April 2018. German authorities say driver in fatal van attack had long record of crimes and apparently acted alone , Los Angeles Times , USA , April 8, 2018. Descartan atentado en arrollamiento masivo en Münster, Alemania , El Tiempo , Colombia, April 7, 2018. Germany van attack: Gunman had run-ins with the law , Sky News , April 8, 2018. German citizen behind van attack , CNN , April 7, 2018 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / abcnews.go.com






  21. ↑ Too much speculation , on deutschlandfunk.de, accessed on April 13, 2018.
  22. ↑ Live: Everything that n-tv and the world don't know exactly , on uebermedien.de, accessed on April 13, 2018.
  23. ^ Sharp criticism of Beatrix von Storch. In: spiegel.de. Retrieved April 8, 2018 .
  24. ↑ The amok run in Münster triggers political noise on the Internet. In: handelsblatt.com. Retrieved April 8, 2018 .
  25. ↑ Like the vultures. In: t-online.de. Retrieved April 9, 2018 .
  26. ↑ CSU calls on von Storch to return his Bundestag mandate, on faz.net, accessed on April 9, 2018.
  27. ↑ WORLD: Amok drive from Münster: Von Storch apologizes for tweet and immediately reloads . In: THE WORLD . April 12, 2018 ( welt.de [accessed April 13, 2018]).
  28. ↑ Patrick Gensing : Facts against Fake News or The Struggle for Democracy. Berlin, Duden 2019, p. 101
  29. ↑ AfD woman von Storch provokes with a tweet about a rampage - that's how brilliantly a user from Münster answers! In: derwesten.de. Retrieved April 8, 2018 .

Coordinates: 51 ° 57 ′ 51 ″  N , 7 ° 37 ′ 34.5 ″  E