Hamburg bank robbery on April 18, 1974

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The attack on a Hamburg branch of Commerzbank on April 18, 1974 went down in German police history because it was here that the so-called final rescue shot was used for the first time . The perpetrator was killed.

procedure

Around noon, the Colombian engineering student Emilio Humberto Martin-Gonzales entered the Commerzbank branch on Steindamm in the St. Georg district of Hamburg and threatened the bank employees and customers with a knife and a pistol . When three patrol cars received reports of the hostage-taking at 12:26 p.m. , they drove to the bank with a special signal , which later turned out to be a tactical error. Upon arrival, one of the officers, 34-year-old policeman Uwe Faden, stormed the bank with his gun drawn and was shot by the hostage-taker. Now the then newly founded MEK also moved in. There were now seven hostages and the perpetrator in the bank . At 12:35 p.m. the perpetrator called the police headquarters on the emergency number 110 and asked for a getaway car.

The NDR reported a water pipe burst in the area to keep onlookers away from the bank. But the bogus report did not stop many people from coming to the scene. Due to the danger, the police then cleared the street and adjacent buildings. At this point in time, the criminal police had taken over the command of operations .

After the perpetrator called the emergency call center again and threatened to kill the hostages, the police leadership decided on the final rescue shot, which the MEK should carry out. To this end, all other armed units were prohibited from using firearms should the perpetrator leave the bank. At 1:09 p.m., MEK officials were able to break into the bank and into a room next to the counter. They gained insight through the keyhole and were able to provide information about the number of hostages and the perpetrator. At the same time, MEK units took up position in front of the bank and hidden next to the entrance. At around 1:40 p.m., the hostage-taker asked for a white Ford to escape and gave him a 20-minute ultimatum .

At 3:43 p.m., the escape vehicle drove to the bank. Driver was a with swimsuit clad officer . At the insistence of the perpetrator, the car was parked three times and guided closer and closer to the entrance of the bank. The MEK waited three meters away for access . The plan was to shoot the perpetrator in a targeted manner . But first the perpetrator sent a female hostage to the vehicle. She sprayed the rear and side windows with black paint to restrict the police's view of the vehicle.

Now the hostage-taker came out of the bank with a male hostage in front of him, the knife pressed to his neck, the pistol in the other hand. He wore the police officer's service cap on his head . When he threw this cap away and was briefly distracted by it, the three officers holed up next to the entrance jumped out of cover and shot him. A total of eight shots were fired in four seconds, hitting the perpetrator in the head and chest. The hostage was also injured in the stomach.

A little later, the hostage taker died in a clinic . The killed officer was found in the bank, until then it was not clear whether he was actually dead.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Weapon and Risk . In: Der Spiegel . No. 17 , 1974, p. 91-93 ( online - 22 April 1974 ).