Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, two police officers were fatally shot at a

traffic stop A traffic stop, commonly referred to as being pulled over, is a temporary detention of a driver of a vehicle by police to investigate a possible crime or minor violation of law. United States A traffic stop is usually considered to be a T ...

on 31 January 2022. The

Public prosecutor's office Public prosecutor's offices are criminal justice bodies attached to the judiciary. They are separate from the courts in Germany, Austria and the German-speaking parts of Switzerland, and are called the Staatsanwaltschaft. This kind of office als ...

believes that the two arrested suspects were attempting to cover up their

poaching Poaching has been defined as the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set a ...

Incident

In the early morning of 31 January 2022 two police officers from West-Palatinate police office were on a routine patrol. The officers were in uniform, equipped with

bulletproof vest A bulletproof vest, also known as a ballistic vest or a bullet-resistant vest, is an item of body armor that helps absorb the impact and reduce or stop penetration to the torso from firearm-fired projectiles and fragmentation from explosions. T ...

s in a civil vehicle. The patrol informed the police control room that they had found "dubious persons" in a car and would now carry out a closer check. The later investigation revealed that there were numerous dead wild animals in the hold of the van. The 24-year-old policewoman was killed with a shot to the head from the shotgun. The investigation showed that she was probably guileless and may have held a flashlight and the suspects' papers in her hand. Shortly afterwards, a second radio message followed: "They shoot at us". The fatal shots were fired at about 4:20 a.m. The 24-year-old female officer was shot in the head and died instantly. The 29-year-old officer was able to shoot back, but was also shot and died from his injuries, when the ambulance arrived. According to police union GdP, the bulletproof vests SK2 used do not protect against large calibre projectiles from a short distance. The crime took place on Kreisstraße 22 between the towns of Mayweilerhof and Ulmet, a rural area in the district of

Kusel Kusel (; written ''Cusel'' until 1865) is a town in the Kusel (district), Kusel Districts of Germany, district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the seat of the Kusel-Altenglan ''Verbandsgemeinde'' and is also the district seat. The well-kno ...

on the border of the German state

Saarland The Saarland (, ; french: Sarre ) is a state of Germany in the south west of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and ...

. The perpetrator or perpetrators fled. The two officers were able to send a radio message. But reinforcements were unable to save them when they arrived.

Casualties

The killed officers were a 29-year-old male and a 24-year-old female. The female police officer was studying policing at the time the shooting happened.

Manhunt

Police in Rhineland-Platinate and police in neighbouring

carried out a massive manhunt. Police are looking for a suspect already known to the police. As the

German press Agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH (dpa) is a German news agency founded in 1949. Based in Hamburg, it has grown to be a major worldwide operation serving print media, radio, television, online, mobile phones, and national news agencies. News is avai ...

reported, the man had been noticed in the past because of an accident

hit-and-run In traffic laws, a hit and run or a hit-and-run is the act of causing a traffic collision and not stopping afterwards. It is considered a supplemental crime in most jurisdictions. Additional obligation In many jurisdictions, there may be an ...

and has a firearm license. "We assume several armed perpetrators," said a police spokeswoman. Later it became clear, that police found the drivers licence and the ID-card of Andreas Schmitt at the crime scene. At 4 p.m. the same day responsible West-Palatinate police issued a press release, stating that initial investigations led to a suspicion of a crime against 38-year-old Andreas Johannes Schmitt from

Spiesen-Elversberg Spiesen-Elversberg is a municipality in the district of Neunkirchen, in Saarland, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after ...

. The police were actively searching for the man. Public prosecutors and police asked the public for help. In the early evening, the police arrested both the wanted Andreas Schmitt and a 32-year-old suspected accomplice in

Sulzbach/Saar Sulzbach is a town and a municipality in the district of Saarbrücken, in Saarland, Germany with a population of 16,215 (as of Dec 2015). It is situated approximately northeast of Saarbrücken Saarbrücken (; french: link=no, Sarrebruck ; R ...

. Neither offered any resistance. According to the police, firearms were seized during searches of two objects in Sulzbacher Bahnhofstrasse. A suspect's car was also found on that street with bullet holes.

Investigations

The investigating judge assumes that the two suspects were on their way to poach in the district of Kusel.

believe that both suspects fired shots. During the investigation, a

shotgun A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which usually discharges numerous small p ...

and a

hunting rifle A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting, with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves (rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with bo ...

were seized.

Suspects

The two arrested suspects are friends of each other.

Andreas Schmitt

The main suspect, Andreas Schmitt, is known to the police for

and traffic hit-and-run. However, he has no legally binding criminal record. He is making use of his

right to remain silent The right to silence is a legal principle which guarantees any individual the right to refuse to answer questions from law enforcement officers or court officials. It is a legal right recognized, explicitly or by convention, in many of the worl ...

Florian V.

The 32-year-old Florian V. is known to the police for fraud offences. He has no criminal record as well. Among other things, the alleged accomplice was targeted by the investigators because, according to media information, he called Schmitt's wife after the shooting. He later admitted to the poaching, according to the prosecutor's office. He had also described the police control. However, he denies having shot himself. The suspect later made a comprehensive statement and heavily incriminated Andreas Schmidt. He said when the police officers asked for his hunting license, he said he had to get it out of the car. Instead, Schmitt got the shotgun out of the car and shot the female officer and then shot at the male officer. Schmitt instructed him to find his ID or he would kill him too, he said.

Reactions

Federal Interior Minister

Nancy Faeser Nancy Faeser (born 13 July 1970) is a German lawyer and politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), serving as Federal Minister of the Interior and Community in Chancellor Olaf Scholz's cabinet since 2021. She served as a member of the St ...

(SPD) said: "Regardless of the motive behind the crime, this act is reminiscent of an execution, and it shows that police officers risk their lives every day for our safety."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kusel shooting, 2022 2022 in Germany 2020s crimes in Germany 21st century in Rhineland-Palatinate Crime in Rhineland-Palatinate January 2022 crimes in Europe January 2022 events in Germany Deaths by firearm in Germany German police officers killed in the line of duty