"The whole action was crazy": Geisel talks about dramatic minutes in his own apartment

Created: 04/07/2022 13:26

By: Katja Rudolph

Location of the event: In this house on Dörnbergstrasse, the perpetrator first broke into an apartment on the fourth floor and then jumped from the balcony on the first floor to the right.

© Katja Rudolph

After a man escaped from the police over the roofs of Kassel, eyewitnesses report on the night.

Kassel – Also on Friday morning there is only one topic of conversation in the house at Dörnbergstraße 2 and in the neighborhood: the incredible events a few hours earlier, when a man fleeing from the police over the roofs broke into the house, gained access to an apartment and then daringly jumped over the balconies.

"It was an exciting night," says Heidi Göbel when she meets two neighbors in the stairwell late in the morning.

The 72-year-old followed the dramatic scenes from her third-floor apartment.

The one for whom the events were not only exciting but also very threatening is already on the train to Italy.

The 57-year-old, who lives in the apartment above Heidi Göbel, is on his way to a long-planned mountain run in South Tyrol.

Even if the night is still hanging on him and a few abrasions and bruises hurt, he didn't want to cancel it, says the man from Kassel on the phone, as reported by hna.de.

Escape to Kassel: "It was an exciting night"

Just before midnight he was woken up by repeated ringing.

He opened the door, half asleep, thinking his wife might have forgotten the key.

A strange man stood opposite him and pushed his way in.

"He was in a complete state of emergency," says the resident, who had not noticed the man's previous escape.

The stranger grabbed a kitchen knife and dragged the 57-year-old, who was alone at home at the time, through the apartment.

In order to barricade the entrance, the intruder pushed a hall closet and a shoe closet in front of the door.

"He was very strong and trained," says the 57-year-old.

Despite the threatening situation, he somehow managed to stay calm, says the father of two.

He started a conversation in English with the young man, who comes from Mexico.

When he noticed that he wasn't offering any resistance, the young man calmed down.

"We then sat together on the sofa." The stranger took off his soaking sweaty T-shirt and was given a glass of water.

"He was afraid that the police would shoot him," reports the man from Kassel, adding: "The man came from Mexico." He may have had different experiences with the police there.

When he explained to him that police officers in Germany are not just allowed to shoot, the intruder finally let him go.

The Kassel family man was hostage to the fugitive for half an hour

The 57-year-old says he can't really estimate how long the whole thing lasted.

When he found out that according to the police it was half an hour, he said: "Oh yes, that can be." When the man from Kassel finally squeezed past the cupboards through a door gap into the hallway, he himself looked armed officers in the eye.

"They screamed straight away: lie down and put your hands over your head." Luckily, it was quickly clear that he wasn't the perpetrator but the victim.

Shortly thereafter, his wife, who had stayed outside, hugged him in relief.

"A lot of people say it was like something out of a movie," said the 57-year-old.

“But it wasn't for me, and it wasn't a jump-and-run game either.” What he – like the police and many neighbors – would now like to know is: What drove the man in his daring escape?

"The whole action was crazy," he says.

However, the young man did not appear crazy or intoxicated.

The Kasseler hopes that the police can clarify the background.

In any case, he's trying to clear his head today during his long-distance run.

(Katja Rudolph)