The public prosecutor’s office in Kaiserslautern has issued an arrest warrant against the two suspects in the murder of two police officers. This was announced by senior public prosecutor Stefan Orthen at a press conference by the police and public prosecutor’s office on Tuesday afternoon.
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The investigating judge assumes joint murder in order to cover up the facts of hunting poaching, said Orthen. There is a risk of escape.
One of the suspects, the 32-year-old arrested as the second, admitted to poaching and described the control situation at night – but he denied having shot himself, the senior public prosecutor said. The investigators, however, assume that both suspects have shot.
The two police officers were shot in the head, it has been confirmed. The policewoman was only hit once, this shot was fatal immediately. The police officer was hit four times, one of which hit him in the head. He himself had emptied his magazine, which contains 14 cartridges.
Before the police officers announced that the shots would be fired, they had announced that there were many wild animals in the trunk of the suspects’ car. The Deputy Chief of Police West Palatinate assumes that the police officers found the suspect’s car standing.
Weapons found during investigations
According to information from the Tagesspiegel, the emergency services searched a house in Sulzbach in Saarland on Tuesday. The police found numerous weapons. The weapons that were used to kill a police commissioner and a police commissioner candidate during a traffic check on Monday night may also have been among them.
A double-barreled shotgun and a Winchester were found in the building, security sources said. It is conceivable that at least the shotgun was fired at the two police officers.
The police arrested suspect Andreas Johannes S. (38) near the house on Monday afternoon. Another suspect, 32 years old, hid in the basement of the house and was also taken away.
The name of a suspect is engraved on 24 cartridges
During a search in Spiesen-Elversberg, Saarland, the police discovered a whole arsenal in the house of Andreas Johannes S.’s ex-wife. Five handguns, ten long guns, 500 rounds of shotgun ammunition, a crossbow, a repeating rifle and three silencers were seized.
The name of Andreas Johannes S. was engraved on 24 cartridges, security circles said. The two suspects were brought before a judge in the district court of Kaiserslautern on Tuesday, and the public prosecutor wants to obtain arrest warrants.
Meanwhile, the psychological stress is giving the police officers at the West Palatinate headquarters in Kaiserslautern a hard time. They were all “sad, sad, tired, speechless, exhausted,” said Bernhard Christian Erfort, spokesman for the presidium, on Tuesday in the Tagesspiegel.
Erfort knew the 29-year-old police commissioner who was shot dead on Monday night on a country road in the Kusel district along with a 24-year-old police commissioner candidate. During a routine traffic stop. Erfort said he only slept for three hours last night, and yet he goes on with his job on Tuesday and provides information to the many journalists who call, just as he did on Monday.
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The 38-year-old Andreas Johannes S. and an alleged 32-year-old accomplice are said to have shot the two police officers at around 4:20 a.m. on Monday. According to Erfort, there are no other suspects so far.
Suspect hid in basement
Andreas Johannes S. was arrested on Monday afternoon in front of a friend’s house in Sulzbach, Saarland. The police also discovered the 32-year-old in the house, he had hidden in the basement. When searching the premises, officers found firearms. It is now being checked whether the guns were actually used, says Erfort.
The relatives of the dead would be cared for by emergency chaplains and psychologists, says Erfort. And the “support forces” who rushed to the scene and found the dead colleagues would be cared for by police crisis intervention teams. Nevertheless, the investigation continues with high pressure. Erfort says “the case is far, far from over”.
