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Police operation in Idar-Oberstein (last Saturday)
Photo: Christian Schulz / dpa
The case in Idar-Oberstein triggered horror and outrage nationwide.
A 20-year-old gas station employee was shot there on Saturday evening.
The fact was preceded by a dispute about wearing a corona protective mask, the investigators.
After the escalation in the place in Rhineland-Palatinate, the police union GdP warned against a radicalization of the corona denier scene.
"This is the first case of a killing in connection with Corona," GdP Vice Jörg Radek told the newspapers of the Funke media group.
"We have been aware of the radicalization of Corona opponents since last year." The serious crime has so far been an isolated case.
During demonstrations, however, there are more and more attacks on media workers and attacks against police officers, stressed Radek.
“It is important that the security authorities focus on radical forces.
Be it from the left, the right or from the 'lateral thinker' scene, ”he demanded.
In Idar-Oberstein, according to the investigators, the 20-year-old had advised suspect Mario N. of compliance with the mask requirement.
There was a discussion.
The man then left the gas station.
About an hour and a half later, the suspect entered the gas station again, this time wearing a mouth and nose cover.
When he was at the cash register, he pulled down the mask, whereupon there was another exchange of words.
The suspect then pulled a revolver out of his pocket and fired a fatal shot at the cashier.
Suspected perpetrators stored other weapons
After his arrest, N. justified the shot with frustration at the pandemic and its rules.
He had felt pushed into a corner and "saw no other way out" than to set an example, said Chief Public Prosecutor Kai Fuhrmann.
The victim seemed to him "responsible for the overall situation, since it had enforced the rules."
Investigators can hear that Mario N. was "well versed" in the theories of the corona deniers.
The prosecutors hope for more clarity from the evaluation of the seized electronic devices.
The fact that N. stored not only one revolver but also other weapons and ammunition speaks in favor of further radicalization.
How he got the guns and where they came from is still unclear.
"He did not legally own the weapons," said Chief Public Prosecutor Fuhrmann.
According to the public prosecutor's office, the 49-year-old alleged murderer had never been noticed by the police, not even as a participant in a pandemic denial demonstration.
jok / AFP
