Police murders in Kusel: a bang at the beginning of the process – the defendant indicates self-defense

Created: 06/24/2022, 06:12

Rhineland-Palatinate, Kusel: A wooden cross and candles stand on a country road between Kusel and Ulmet at a memorial for the two police officers killed.

© Uwe Anspach/dpa +++ dpa picture radio +++

In the trial of the police murder in Kusel, the accused blame each other.

Andreas S.'s version differs significantly from the prosecutor's allegations.

• Trial of

  police murders in Kusel

  : The trial began on Tuesday at the Kaiserslautern district court.

  14 dates are planned until September 9th.

• Bang at the beginning of the trial: the main defendant denies murder and speaks of a kind of “self-defense”.

• Mutual recriminations: version of the main defendant Andreas S. differs significantly from allegations by the public prosecutor.

• This news ticker on the Kusel police murder trial is updated regularly.

Update from June 23, 5:46 p.m .:

The trial of the police murders in Kusel began on Tuesday at the Kaiserslautern district court.

The main defendant Andreas S. is accused of double murder, attempted murder, an assault on law enforcement officials and commercial poaching.

The statements of the man, however, differ significantly from the allegations of the public prosecutor.

The public prosecutor's office accuses the main defendant, among other things, of surprisingly firing a shot at the head of a 24-year-old police officer from a short distance from a shotgun.

Andreas S., on the other hand, speaks of a "chaotic situation" in which, fearing for his life, he only responded to shots.

His defense attorney stated that the main defendant poached with the co-defendant Florian V. on the night of the crime and fired shots at a traffic stop.

According to Andreas S., however, it should not be a matter of murder, rather he indicates a kind of "self-defense".

Police murders in Kusel: defender of the co-accused speaks of "made up" explanation

In his version of what happened, Andreas S. brought the co-defendant Florian V. into play as a possible perpetrator.

In addition, S. even claims to have snatched a shotgun from co-defendant V.

The defense attorney for the 33-year-old co-defendant Florian V. commented on Andreas S.'s statements as "not surprising", but "made up".

"He didn't do himself any favors with the strategy of shifting the blame," the lawyer continued.

The defense attorney for the 33-year-old accomplice also pointed out that the indictment was based almost exclusively on his client's statements about the course of the crime.

These were confirmed by the forensic investigation.

According to trial observers, his client Florian V. initially stared listlessly into the air when the indictment was read out.

However, when the explanation of his co-defendant Andreas S. was read out, the 33-year-old shook his head several times.

After around an hour of negotiations on Tuesday, the district court of Kaiserslautern adjourned the trial to Monday, June 27 at 9:00 a.m.

Police cars and officers are at the scene where two police officers were shot dead during a traffic check (archive image) © picture alliance/dpa |

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Police murder in Kusel: the main defendant blames the co-defendants

Update from June 22, 2022

: The police murder near Kusel triggered nationwide horror.

The 39-year-old main defendant Andreas S. has to answer before the Kaiserslautern district court for double murder, attempted murder, a physical attack on law enforcement officials and commercial poaching.

The 33-year-old co-accused V. is charged with commercial poaching and thwarting crimes.

Around five months after the death of the two police officers, the trial apparently resulted in the accused blaming each other.

At the start of the trial on Tuesday, the main defendant, Andreas S., denied the murder.

The main defendant also heavily incriminated the 33-year-old co-defendant.

The defense attorney gave his version of what happened.

His client heard gunshots at the incident in late January and was "perplexed," the man's defense attorney said in a statement.

He brings the co-defendant into play as a possible perpetrator, indicates a kind of self-defense and even claims to have snatched a shotgun from the co-defendant during the events on a country road in the Palatinate.

The 33-year-old accomplice's defense attorney dismissed the account as inaccurate and "predictable".

It was as his client described during the interrogation.

In it, the man had admitted hunting poaching, but denied having shot himself.

Initially, he was also investigated for the murders, but the investigators later dropped this allegation.

After about an hour, the court adjourned the trial until next Monday.

Overall, the district court of Kaiserslautern scheduled 14 days of negotiations until September.

Police murders in Kusel: a bang at the beginning of the process – the defendant indicates self-defense

Update from June 21, 2022

: It is a crime that has caused grief and shock far beyond the city limits of Kusel.

A few months after two police officers were shot, the trial before the district court in Kaiserslautern has now begun.

On Tuesday, the main defendant admitted shots, but claims to have fired them in a kind of self-defense situation.

Andreas S. wanted to ensure that shots fired at himself stopped, said one of his defense lawyers when reading out his client's statement at the start of the proceedings before the Kaiserslautern district court.

In the statement, S. described what he felt was a completely confusing situation in which he did not know who was shooting at whom and why.

His co-defendant Florian V. held a shotgun in his hand, the statement read by the defense said.

He seemed "mentally absent".

S. finally snatched the gun from him.

A representative of the public prosecutor's office had previously read out the indictment.

Accordingly, S. is said to have killed his two victims on January 31 during a random night traffic check on a country road to cover up his activities as a poacher.

He is therefore charged with two counts of murder and various other offences.

The act sparked nationwide outrage.

Originally, V. was also suspected of the murder, who had accompanied S. in the car on the night of the crime.

However, the murder charge against him was dropped.

Police murder near Kusel: After shots at Yasmin B. and Alexander K. – murder trial begins on Tuesday

Original report from June 20, 2022:

Kaiserslautern – Two police officers were shot during a police check on January 31, 2022 in the Palatinate.

The act caused great horror across Germany.

The murder trial for the fatal shots at police commissioner candidate Yasmin B. and police commissioner Alexander K. begins on Tuesday (June 21) in the Kaiserslautern district court.

The suspected gunman is no stranger to police.

Murder trial for fatal shots at two police officers near Kusel begins

The public prosecutor's office in Kaiserslautern brought charges against the accused Andreas S. in May 2022.

The 39-year-old is accused of two completed murders, attempted murder and dangerous bodily harm.

S. is said to have surprisingly fired the first shot from a short distance from a shotgun on the head of the 24-year-old officer.

According to the indictment, she was seriously injured.

However, the defendant assumed her death.

The second shot was fired from the same gun at a greater distance at her 29-year-old colleague, who was hit in the buttocks.

The officer shot back with his service pistol in defense and made an emergency call with the words "They are shooting", whereupon S. shot the police officer three times with a hunting rifle, injuring him severely each time.

The last shot hit the police officer in the head and was fatal.

S. then searched the officer lying on the floor for notes that he considered to be compromising.

He discovered that she was still alive and shot her in the head with the shotgun.

Furthermore, the accused has to answer for resistance and attack on law enforcement officers as well as joint poaching.

According to the public prosecutor's office, the latter was the reason for the murders.

At the time of the crime, the sale of the loot was essentially the defendant's livelihood.

S. is said to have killed the police officers out of greed so that the poaching could continue.

According to the investigation, he had neither a hunting license nor a gun permit.

Murder trial for deadly shots at police officers: Second suspect released from custody

Freisen: Two weeks after the two police officers were shot dead in the West Palatinate, the 29-year-old police commissioner who died was buried on Tuesday in his hometown of Freisen in Saarland (archive image, February 15, 2022).

© Harald Tittel/dpa +++ dpa picture radio +++

Originally, the now 33-year-old Florian V. was suspected of murder.

However, the suspicion was not substantiated, which is why he was released from custody.

The indictment accuses him, like the accused Andreas S., of joint commercial poaching on the night of the crime.

He will therefore also have to answer in court in the scheduled trial.

On the day of the crime, both men initially fled and were only arrested after hours of searching.

According to a preliminary psychiatric report, both are considered guilty.

The past of the 39-year-old suspect became the focus of the investigation early on.

He was noticed by the authorities, among other things, because of the suspicion of hunting poaching.

His now 33-year-old accomplice is said to be known to the police for fraud.

In the process, 14 appointments are scheduled until September 9th by the beginning of September.

, the relatives of the two victims do

not want to appear at the start of the process.

After Kusel's double murder, a 55-year-old called for more police officers to be killed on the Internet.

The man now has to answer to the district court of Idar-Oberstein.

The trial begins on August 5, as the court in Rhineland-Palatinate announced at the end of May.

After the police murder in the Palatinate, the man is said to have called for the killing of other police officers on Facebook.

That is why the Koblenz public prosecutor's office had accused him of publicly inciting criminal offenses in early May

.