Police operation at schools: 16-year-old suspected

Created: 05/12/2022Updated: 05/12/2022 12:18 p.m

Police officers are standing in front of the Don Bosco high school.

© Markus Gayk/TNN/dpa

Huge shock in Essen: Instead of classes, the police are running large-scale operations at two schools.

A student apartment is searched.

The suspicion: A high school student was planning a crime.

A NRW government member speaks of a prevented suspected terrorist attack.

Essen – The police in Essen are investigating possible planned crimes at two schools against a 16-year-old.

"We can confirm that the suspect is a 16-year-old German student at the Don Bosco High School," the police said on Thursday.

According to Deputy Prime Minister Joachim Stamp (FDP), a "suspected Nazi terrorist attack" was prevented, as he announced via Twitter.

The NRW Ministry of the Interior announced a statement from Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) for noon (1 p.m.) with details of the incident.

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According to dpa information, there are indications of right-wing tendencies among the young people.

Accordingly, a manifesto was found in which he omits several people whom he says he hates.

An Essen police spokeswoman told the German Press Agency that the SEK had searched the high school student's apartment early in the morning.

The police initially did not provide any further information on possible finds and allegedly planned acts.

Several media reported.

The police spokeswoman said: "Fortunately nothing happened at the schools.

The direction in which it might have gone is now being determined.” The young person is currently in police custody.

He will be questioned, as will his parents.

The shock of the parents is deep, said a local spokesman.

The youth has not yet appeared with the police.

The operations with searches at the Don-Bosco-Gymnasium in Essen-Borbeck and at the secondary school at Borbeck Castle had started at 7 a.m. and were still running in the morning.

According to the police, the suspect is a high school student and had previously attended secondary school.

"Indications" have been received by the police that he may have planned a crime at his current or former school.

What exactly is going on is being investigated.

Several media reported that the tip came from a classmate of the 16-year-old.

According to the police, the student's apartment not far from the high school was searched to find evidence and instruments.

"Various pieces of evidence" were secured, it said.

"But we can't say what it is at the moment." According to a dpa photo reporter, officials carried stabbing weapons - including spears - out of the house.

They also carried several boxes from the attic apartment into a van.

In front of the Catholic high school, which almost 800 students attend, a few police cars could still be seen at noon.

There were no barriers, the school gate was open.

But no one was allowed in.

Several police officers guarded the school grounds.

A bomb dog was deployed - at both facilities.

"We received indications that a crime was planned in the school," it said on the high school's website.

"In order to examine the school for evidence, we had to block access to the school today in consultation with the police." It can be assumed that classes will go back to normal on Friday.

NRW-SPD leader Thomas Kutschaty, who lives in Essen, was shocked.

"It is probably thanks to a high level of civil courage and the courageous intervention of the police that nothing happened to the teachers and pupils.

From the bottom of my heart: Thank you!” Wrote the top candidate for the state elections on Sunday on Twitter.

dpa