Attacks in Bottrop, Essen and Oberhausen in 2019

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Attacks in Bottrop, Essen and Oberhausen 2019 (North Rhine-Westphalia)
Bottrop
Bottrop
eat
eat
Oberhausen
Oberhausen
Location of the cities of Bottrop , Essen and Oberhausen in North Rhine-Westphalia

The attacks in Bottrop, Essen and Oberhausen in 2019 formed a series of 13 attacks on people by means of a car, which were viewed by various sides as xenophobic immediately after the crime , but according to the judgment of the Essen regional court due to an acute episode of paranoid schizophrenia . The perpetrator Andreas N. drove his vehicle on New Year's Eve 2018/2019 in Bottrop , Essen and Oberhausen specifically on pedestrians. Ten people, including two children, were injured, one of whom was temporarily in mortal danger. Five of the injured come from Syria and two from Afghanistan .

According to initial newspaper reports, the authorities initially treated the rampage as a terrorist attack; however, the federal prosecutor's office, which would be responsible in such a case, did not take over the investigation, as the culprit's culpability had not yet been clarified. On January 22, 2019, the public prosecutor announced that the gunman had been admitted to a psychiatric clinic. In December 2019, the Essen regional court classified the perpetrator as completely incompetent . The judges did not see a terrorist or xenophobic background, since apart from his delusions, no xenophobia could be assumed.

According to the Interior Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia Herbert Reul, the driver acted with intent to kill . A spokesman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior did not want to call the act a terrorist act for the time being.

Investigations

Sequence of events

On New Year's Eve 2018/2019, a few minutes after midnight, the perpetrator steered his Mercedes-Benz car on Osterfelder Strasse in Bottrop specifically at a pedestrian in order to hit him with the vehicle. The man could save himself. Immediately afterwards, the suspect drove on to downtown Bottrop and steered his vehicle into a group of people on Berliner Platz, injuring several people.

The driver fled towards Essen in his vehicle. There he tried in vain to drive into a group of people on Schlossstrasse who were waiting at the Stensbeckhof bus stop. As he continued to flee, he was stopped and arrested by the police on Rabenhorst Street. When he was arrested, the suspect expressed himself in a racist and xenophobic manner.

The police assume targeted attacks on foreigners or on people whom the perpetrator believed to be foreigners at at least four crime scenes. According to the first newspaper reports, the security authorities rate the act as a terrorist attack. The perpetrator "is comparable to radicalized Islamists who act on their own".

There is an amateur video that is supposed to show one of the acts. The perpetrator initially steers his car relatively slowly into a crowd, which meant that most of the people were able to save themselves before the vehicle accelerated. As it became known at the end of January 2019, there were a total of 13 attempts by the perpetrator to injure and kill people with his vehicle, which took place in Oberhausen as well as in Bottrop and Essen .

Victim

A total of ten people were injured in the acts, seven of whom are Syrian or Afghan citizens, including a Syrian family of four ; the 16 and 27 year old daughters and the 48 year old father were slightly injured, the 46 year old mother was seriously injured, was at times in mortal danger and had to be operated on. In addition, two children (4 and 10 years old) from Afghanistan and Syria and a 29-year-old woman from Afghanistan were hit and injured. The eighth victim is a 34-year-old from Essen with Turkish roots. Nothing is known about the other two victims. In Oberhausen, the perpetrator drove into a group of four people, none of whom were injured.

Suspect

Suspect is the 50-year-old German Andreas N., an unemployed building cleaner from Essen. N. suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and has already been in inpatient treatment three times, the last time in 2016. According to witnesses, weeks before the crime he is said to have discontinued his medication and to have seen “child fuckers” or “terrorists” everywhere. The morning before the crime, he began to scold confusedly. During the interrogation, he had spoken racist throughout, but also made a confused impression. He is said to have confirmed hatred of foreigners as his motive towards the officials; his intention was to "prevent attacks by Syrian or Afghan refugees".

The suspect was first issued an arrest warrant "for multiple attempted murder". This was later converted into a temporary placement order .

Reactions

North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) said that the investigation was still in its infancy. So far it is certain that there was “the man's clear intention to kill foreigners”. "Personal dismay and resentment" led the suspect to xenophobia, Reul continued. "The investigative authorities are currently assuming a targeted attack," said the public prosecutor and the police.

Bottrop's Lord Mayor Bernd Tischler canceled a concert that was supposed to open the celebrations for Bottrop's 100th birthday: “Today we don't feel like celebrating.” The federal government condemned the act.

The sociologist Matthias Quent classifies the act as a prejudice or hate crime and right-wing terrorism. He warns against using the term “amok” in this context, as it “empties attacks of their political and social significance”. Political scientist Florian Hartleb sees this as a typical case of lone wolf terrorism : “A type of perpetrator who strikes alone for both personal and political motives. According to the motto: I personally have nothing more to lose. And: I have to set an example politically and want to go down in the annals. ”In contrast, the criminologist Britta Bannenberg points out that the question of whether the crime has a racist background“ should be clarified in a criminal case ”. Assessors would have to check whether the perpetrator has recognized what he is doing or whether he was so influenced by a delusion that he could not see reality. If the perpetrator is actually schizophrenic, it is very likely that his delusion drove him to act, so Bannenberg. More than a third of the adult amocrats suffer from schizophrenia. The political scientist Peter R. Neumann also warns against a hasty judgment. It seems clear that the perpetrator was a xenophobia. But whether he was pursuing a terrorist purpose with his act and whether his psychological previous stresses were so severe that he no longer understood the consequences of his own actions required a more detailed analysis.

Court ruling

The Essen District Court assessed the acts in its judgment of December 11, 2019, among other things as attempted murder . Since the perpetrator was completely incapable of guilt , she was placed in the closed psychiatric ward. The Essen regional court did not see a terrorist or xenophobic background. "Rather, it is the act of a seriously ill person." The defendant has suffered from paranoid schizophrenia for years . Hours before the act, he was haunted by delusions. Apart from his delusions, however, no hatred of foreigners can be assumed. Triggered by an acute attack of his paranoid schizophrenia, the perpetrator believed he had to prevent an attack.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c drove a car randomly in groups of people: Nazi symbols and Hitler photos on the cell phone: New details about the Amok driver from Bottrop , focus.de , January 25, 2019
  2. ↑ a b c man drives into pedestrians - perpetrator wanted to kill foreigners , daily news from January 1, 2019; Accessed January 2, 2019
  3. ↑ Man must go to psychiatry - “Act of a seriously ill person” , Spiegel Online, December 11, 2019
  4. ↑ a b Car attack on New Year's Eve: Targets also in Oberhausen , WDR from January 23, 2019; Accessed February 24, 2019
  5. ↑ a b c d The number of injuries in Bottrop and Essen is increasing , Zeit Online from January 2, 2019; Accessed January 14, 2019
  6. ↑ Amok run in Bottrop: Did perpetrators target people in other places? , merkur.de of January 23, 2019; Accessed February 24, 2019
  7. ↑ Motorists had "clear intentions to kill foreigners" , Süddeutsche from January 1, 2019; Accessed January 2, 2019
  8. ↑ a b Motorists had the "clear intention to kill foreigners" , Zeit Online from January 1, 2019; Accessed January 2, 2019
  9. ↑ Authorities treat the rampage as a terrorist attack , Tagesspiegel from January 1, 2019; Accessed January 2, 2019
  10. ↑ Right-wing extremist attack in Bottrop: Die Aufgehetzt , taz of January 5, 2019; Accessed January 9, 2019
  11. ↑ a b Amok driver admitted to psychiatric clinic , Süddeutsche Zeitung of January 22, 2019
  12. ↑ Attack on New Year's Eve: Perpetrator has to go to psychiatry , FAZ.NET, December 11, 2019
  13. ^ Federal government condemns attacks in Amberg and Bottrop , Die Welt of January 2, 2019; Accessed January 2, 2019
  14. ↑ a b 50-year-old travels in a group of people in Bottrop. In: wdr.de. January 2, 2019, accessed January 13, 2019 .
  15. ↑ Man deliberately drives around pedestrians - possibly attack In: Spiegel Online . January 1, 2019, accessed January 1, 2019.
  16. ↑ a b Authorities treat the rampage as a terrorist attack , Frank Jansen, Potsdamer Latest News , January 2, 2019, accessed January 13, 2019
  17. ↑ a b Man drives in a pedestrian group after the turn of the year. In: Welt Online . January 1, 2019, accessed January 1, 2019.
  18. ↑ Number of injuries in Bottrop and Essen is increasing , Zeit Online , January 2, 2019, accessed January 13, 2019
  19. ↑ Selection of the victims probably no coincidence , taz of January 2, 2019; Accessed February 24, 2019
  20. ↑ Gunman drove in Oberhausen in a small group of people Neue Ruhr Zeitung from January 29, 2019; Accessed February 24, 2019
  21. ↑ silence or warning? , sueddeutsche.de, March 28, 2019
  22. ↑ Bottrop assassin confirms hatred of foreigners as a motive , WAZ from January 3, 2019; Accessed January 4, 2019
  23. ↑ Number of injuries in Bottrop and Essen is increasing , Zeit Online , January 2, 2019, accessed January 13, 2019
  24. ↑ Bottrop and Essen attack: Why Interior Minister Reul makes a fatal mistake on derwesten.de
  25. ↑ Attack in Bottrop: Motorists had the "clear intention to kill foreigners". In: Spiegel Online . January 1, 2019, accessed January 1, 2019 .
  26. ^ Right-wing extremism: "The lines between amok and terror can blur" , Zeit Online from January 2, 2019; Accessed January 3, 2019
  27. ↑ "Mostly it is lonely middle-aged men" , Welt Online from January 3, 2019; Accessed January 5, 2019
  28. ↑ The society provides food for hate fantasies , interview with Britta Bannenberg , Lara Malberger, Zeit Online , January 4, 2019, accessed January 14, 2019
  29. ↑ Terror, amok, hate crimes - what are we talking about? Guest contribution by Peter R. Neumann on Spiegel Online from January 5, 2019, accessed January 14, 2019
  30. ↑ Attack on New Year's Eve: Perpetrator has to go to psychiatry , FAZ.NET, December 11, 2019