Man throws Molotov cocktail at police officers

Created: 05/17/2022, 19:14

By: Peter Schiebel

In the attic of this house on Berger Straße in Percha, the operation escalated on Tuesday morning.

The forensics department of the Ingolstadt Criminal Police Office then examined the crime scene.

© Andrea Jaksch

A routine police operation escalated yesterday morning in Percha.

A 37-year-old man threw a Molotov cocktail at the officers deployed.

The public prosecutor's office is now investigating an attempted homicide.

Percha - The operation yesterday morning began quite normally for the officers of the Fürstenfeldbruck criminal police - a little later there was an arrest, two slightly injured and investigations into an attempted homicide.

They were supposed to pick up a 37-year-old man at Berger Strasse 1 in Percha in order to be able to treat him for identification purposes.

That means taking fingerprints, measuring height and weight, taking photos, registering special features such as tattoos or scars.

The order of the public prosecutor's office was "the result of an investigation", explains Andreas Aichele, spokesman for the police headquarters in Upper Bavaria North.

The fact that the police wanted to enforce the measures is due to the fact that the 37-year-old apparently did not respond to written instructions.

So at around 9:15 a.m., six police officers stood in front of the apartment door on the top floor of the house and knocked.

There are two apartments there, on the floor below there is a group practice for two general practitioners, on the ground floor there is a furniture store.

The Raiffeisenbank used to have a branch on Berger Strasse 1.

Even now, the 37-year-old did not react.

Because the detectives were in civilian clothes, they first requested a patrol from the Starnberg police.

The uniformed officers were supposed to prove to the man in no uncertain terms that the police really were at the door.

But when he didn't open it either, the officers used a ram to gain access to the apartment and entered the hallway.

"There the man appeared with a petrol bomb, which he threw in the direction of the officers," reports Aichele.

A total of eight police officers ran out of the apartment and down the stairs – “in acute danger of death”, as the police spokesman emphasizes.

Two firefighters sustained minor injuries.

They were later treated in the hospital but were able to leave afterwards.

According to the police, no officer was injured by the Molotov cocktail itself.

Berger Strasse in Percha was closed during the operation.

© Fire Department

Shortly after the throw, they managed to overpower and arrest the 37-year-old.

They were also able to put out the fire.

The alarmed Percha fire brigade only had to ventilate, reports head of operations Jürgen Römmler on request.

The Munich II public prosecutor's office has started investigations into an attempted homicide.

The man is due to be brought before the judge on Wednesday.

The Ingolstadt Criminal Investigation Department has taken over the investigation.

In such cases, it is common for another agency to process the case, explains Aichele.

The forensics from Ingolstadt examined the man's apartment for hours yesterday.

"We will look at them very closely," says the spokesman.

Employees and patients of the group practice experienced dramatic minutes.

"There was a loud bang, then the police ran down the stairs," says Ursula Goppel, a specialist in internal medicine, describing the situation.

The officers shouted at them to stay away from the stairwell and to go to the back rooms of the practice.

At the time, around 20 people were in the practice.

"It was purely a precautionary measure," emphasizes Goppel.

"Nothing happened to anyone." After that, operations could be resumed in practice.

She didn't notice any fire or smoke.

"But it stunk in the stairwell."

The operation also had an impact on road traffic.

Berger Strasse was partially closed during the operation.