As of: March 2, 2024, 11:04 a.m
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Flowers and candles lie in front of the single-family home in Westervesede.
© dpa
Four people die in Westervesede and Brockel, including a three-year-old girl.
A Bundeswehr soldier is considered an urgent suspect.
Did he murder out of jealousy or injured masculinity?
Westervesede/Brockel - The entrance to the single-family home at the intersection of Scheeßeler Straße and Osterende street in Westervesede is lovingly decorated.
A heart hangs crookedly on the door, clay figures stand on the staircase.
On Friday morning, a black cat roams around the front door and wants to get into the house.
But the door remains closed.
The lattice window next to the door handle is smashed.
There are two police vehicles on the street with flashing lights on and the property is cordoned off with red and white tape.
Two people died in this house on Friday night.
A few kilometers away, in Brockel, there are two more.
A Bundeswehr soldier is said to have killed them all.
He is now in custody.
The single-family home in Brockel is a crime scene: a forensics team is on duty at midday.
© dpa
What drives a 32-year-old to shoot four people with an assault rifle?
The arrest warrant issued by the Verden district court on Friday afternoon stated that it was a case of quadruple murder.
The young man comes to the area at night and drives a car with a license plate from Osterode am Harz.
He knows the area well, although he is not or no longer works in the Rotenburg Von Düring barracks.
But he knows where he wants to go.
The Zevener Zeitung reports that he is a soldier in the Seedorf barracks, a paratrooper.
“Family connections” is what the police say about the possible background, and there is talk of a “relationship crime”.
Targeted shots at night: soldier kills four people
What happened at 3:30 a.m. in Westervesede and 3:40 a.m. in Brockel goes far beyond that.
Heavily armed, the soldier with operational experience abroad first broke into the old single-family home in Westervesede and killed a 30-year-old and his 55-year-old mother.
Other family members who live here, including a child, are not injured.
The children's mother is said to have moved to the neighboring town.
The Rotenburg barracks were largely cordoned off on Friday morning.
© Joto
The 30-year-old is reportedly the new boyfriend of the soldier's ex-partner.
He obviously wants to take revenge on his former partner.
Jealousy, offended masculinity?
After killing two people in Westervesede, he drives a few kilometers further to Brockel.
Here too he has a precise plan.
In the new housing development on Heideweg he kills his ex's best friend, a 33-year-old, and her three-year-old daughter.
The mother had tried to protect her younger daughter - in vain.
The other daughter, nine years old, survives.
She sleeps in another room.
The second crime scene is just a few meters away from where the ex-partner lives.
According to rumors on social media, the soldier wanted to destroy her life by taking away her loved ones.
He does it.
The police searched for him with a large contingent that night.
At first it is said that there could be several perpetrators, but it quickly becomes clear who is wanted and what danger they pose.
But he has apparently completed his plan; he allows himself to be arrested in front of the Von Düring barracks without resistance.
A lot of ammunition is found in his car, as well as a Molotov cocktail.
A police spokesman says there were fears of an “assault” after the fatal shots.
“Now he can’t do anything anymore,” says the all-clear message to the population.
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There is a Molotov cocktail in the side compartment of the car door.
What else did the perpetrator plan to do with it?
© dpa
A resident in the Brockel residential area said on Friday afternoon that she had been to a concert in Hamburg the evening before.
She didn't return until half past midnight.
“Luckily not later,” she says.
Otherwise she might have crossed paths with the perpetrator.
She has lived in the new development since 2021, about as long as the two victims.
“When I pulled up the blinds in the morning, I thought I was going to be hit.” There were two ambulances in front of the door, one from the Johanniter, a police car and several police officers.
She didn't hear any shots.
The best friend of the perpetrator's ex-partner lived not far away.
The parents live on the other side of the semi-detached house.
They may have notified the police.
The house is still cordoned off with tape and the forensics department is still in the house.
Reporters stand in front of the house.
The shooter's car is parked in front of the Rotenburg barracks and is being examined.
© dpa
A similar picture in Westervesede.
The intersection where the first crime scene is located was parked with forensic vehicles early on Friday afternoon.
Police experts in white protective clothing enter and leave the red-brick house.
There is an oppressive atmosphere in the place.
Hardly anyone can be seen on the streets.
When asked about what probably happened the night before, no one wants to talk.
“I didn't notice anything, I only saw the police vehicles in the morning,” is an answer that comes up several times when asked about what happened the previous night.
The media contingent is huge on Friday afternoon.
Photographers and camera teams follow every movement on and in front of the house.
The man who was shot in Westervesede is said to have moved with his family to the village in the unified municipality of Scheeßel just a few years ago.
He lived with his wife and their son in the red brick house.
The man's parents also lived there.
Emergency services have cordoned off the house in the Brockel development area.
© Tonner
The woman is said to have moved out some time ago.
“A nice family,” says a Westervesed woman who lives almost 300 meters from the crime scene.
According to local residents, the man who was shot was a person who did voluntary work for others.
He was a member of the local council.
Just a few hours before the bloodbath, according to people from the village, he was at a meeting about the possibility of setting up a children's fire department in the village.
The mayor of Scheeßel, Ulrike Jungemann (CDU), is shocked.
She found out about the crimes shortly after 6 a.m. and says she has been in shock ever since: "It's unbelievable that a person can point a gun at others, especially at a three-year-old child!" Until now, she had the impression that " “The fact that we live here to some extent in an ideal world where people know each other and look out for each other – that is no longer true from today onwards.”
The police confiscate ammunition, a grenade and other evidence in the suspected perpetrator's car.
© Joto
The perpetrator, as can be seen from the police officers' accounts, did not just shoot.
He killed in a targeted manner, with countless shots from a rifle that the Bundeswehr also uses.
It is said to be the “G36” assault rifle.
There are no official confirmations.
The police are checking whether the murder weapon came from the Bundeswehr.
According to information from the dpa news agency, no weapons are missing in this context.
In the afternoon, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius expressed his dismay.
“The multiple killings of innocent people in Scheeßel is simply horrific,” said the SPD politician during a visit to a Bundeswehr sports school.
“I found out about it early this morning.
A Bundeswehr soldier is the suspected perpetrator.” There is much to suggest that the crime occurred in the context of a private relationship.
This needs to be clarified.
If it is confirmed that the background to the crime was a breakup, it would be another terrible murder of women because they ended a relationship, said the Defense Minister.
“But that’s all speculation, I don’t want to and can’t take part in that right now,” said the minister.
“My condolences go out to the relatives of the victims, a crime like this is simply terrible.”