After police murder in Kusel: murder charges against 38-year-olds – shocking details of the crime

Created: 05/10/2022, 16:56

By: Michelle Brey

A young policewoman and her colleague were shot dead during a traffic check in Kusel.

Charges have now been brought against the suspected shooter.

Kusel / Munich - The deadly shots at two police officers in Kusel in Rhineland-Palatinate caused nationwide horror.

The suspected shooter is now to be brought to justice.

The public prosecutor's office in Kaiserslautern is charging a 38-year-old man with murder.

He is said to have killed a 24-year-old police officer and her 29-year-old colleague with multiple gunshots on January 31, 2022 to cover up poaching.

Based on the results of the investigation, the prosecution draws the picture of a brutal act.

Bloody deed in Kusel: Two police officers killed by shots - "From a short distance on the head"

The public prosecutor assumes that the accused was traveling with a 33-year-old on the night of the crime for hunting poaching in the western Palatinate.

The two police officers were taken aback by the larger vehicle on the edge of a district road and they got out to check it out.

Investigators later found numerous dead animals in the trunk of the vehicle.

Surprisingly, according to the judiciary, the accused then fired a shot from the shotgun "at a short distance in the head" of the police officer.

The woman fell into the street, badly injured and unconscious.

The 38-year-old is said to have shot the police officer first with a shotgun and then with a hunting rifle.

The 29-year-old shot back without hitting the attacker.

He made an emergency call and called for reinforcements with the words "They're shooting".

The accused then seriously injured the police officer with several shots and ultimately fatally hit him in the head.

When the 38-year-old German noticed that the young policewoman was still alive, he fired another shot at the young woman's head with the shotgun, it said.

The two men fled.

The next day (February 1, 2022) they were arrested in Saarland.

Two police officers shot dead in Kusel: Charges of double murder against 38-year-olds

The public prosecutor's office accuses the 38-year-old of two murders, among other things.

The 33-year-old - who was originally also suspected of having shot the police officers - is accused of attempted evasion, among other things.

He helped cover the tracks.

Psychiatric reports revealed no evidence of limited criminal responsibility.

Police murder in Kusel: 38-year-old in the focus of the investigation - livelihood through hunting poaching

The past of the 38-year-old was the focus of the investigation early on.

The police had already noticed him for hunting poaching, among other things.

In addition, the defendant has already shot at a person.

The public prosecutor's office stated on Tuesday (May 10, 2022): At the time of the crime, the 38-year-old was making his living mainly through poaching and the sale of the booty.

But since April 2020 he has not been allowed to own, buy or borrow weapons, the authorities had said.

The suspect only had a hunting license until the end of March 2020.

According to the investigation, the wife could have helped the 38-year-old to get to the weapons.

In mid-2021 she is said to have bought the shotgun and shortly before bought the hunting rifle in a gun shop in Saarland.

She is said to have owned the guns legally.

The alleged murder weapons had been secured in Saarland.

 The circumstances of how the 38-year-old came into possession of the murder weapon are the subject of an ongoing investigation by the Kaiserslautern public prosecutor's office against the wife for negligent homicide and violation of the Weapons Act.

Public prosecutor's office in Kaiserslautern

Wave of solidarity after bloody deed in Kusel

The cruel act triggered a wave of solidarity nationwide.

Hundreds of letters of condolence were received by the police in the Palatinate.

Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz only expressed his condolences via Twitter ("What happened in Kusel depresses me very much. My sympathy goes to the relatives of the two young victims. And I think of the many police officers who risk their lives every day to protect us citizens. We have to clarify the background to the crime quickly.") and finally visited colleagues of the two victims in Kaiserslautern.

The "bad murder" depresses everyone, said Scholz afterwards.

But there were also malicious comments and even approval of the crime on the Internet.

The judiciary is investigating.

"We are currently experiencing disgusting things online that some are cheering for this act," said Rhineland-Palatinate Prime Minister Malu Dreyer (SPD).

"It's just inhuman and bad."

In relation to the murder charge, the court must now decide on a trial.

According to reports, this could begin at the end of June.