After the heavy explosion in Ratingen near Düsseldorf, all of the life-threatening injuries survived the second night after the alleged assassination attempt. A police spokesman said.
Whether the dead woman who was discovered in the suspect’s apartment is the 91-year-old mother of the 57-year-old suspect has not yet been finally clarified.
Meanwhile, the SPD opposition in the North Rhine-Westphalian state parliament announced that it would request a special session of the interior committee because of the case. Their domestic policy spokeswoman Christina Kampmann wants to know whether the emergency services, who were called to a “helpless person” on Thursday, were informed that a violent criminal lived there and had an arrest warrant issued against him.
Suspect known as prepper and corona denier
As it became known on Friday, a police officer had visited the 57-year-old a few days earlier with an arrest warrant. The Ratinger had not paid a fine for bodily harm. The opposition also wants to know what the suspect’s affiliation with the prepper scene is all about. He is also said to be a corona denier. Derived from the English “prepare” (to prepare), people who prepare for survival in the event of a disaster are referred to as preppers.
While the emergency services wanted to help a “helpless person”, the 57-year-old Ratinger may have assumed that he should be arrested. He himself is silent about what happened. A police spokesman said on Friday that nobody could have expected such a devastating escalation of the operation.
Reul urges caution
State Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) called on the police officers in North Rhine-Westphalia to be particularly careful on the police intranet: “For the moment I only have one request: take good care of yourself and your colleagues!” That’s what it says Letter that is available to the German Press Agency.
“This terrible operation makes me deeply saddened – and frankly also angry. All forces had only good in mind, they dedicated themselves to the service of society and only wanted to help. But here rescuers and helpers became victims themselves,” he writes.
Reul continues: “The alleged perpetrator could be arrested, but that is only small consolation. There are still so many unanswered questions – above all the question of “Why?”
A judge sent the suspect into custody on Friday on nine counts of attempted murder. He is said to have thrown a container of petrol at the emergency services when they opened the apartment door and behind it came across a stack of water boxes with which the entrance was barricaded.
Several seriously injured
Two police officers and seven firefighters and rescue service employees were hit by a fireball and suffered severe burns. Because the mailbox was no longer emptied and was overflowing, the landlady had asked the police to check on things.
The investigators had reported that the 57-year-old was a violent criminal who had already been noticed because of three physical injuries and against whom two penal orders had been imposed. During a search, the police found PTB weapons in the basement – these generally include alarm, irritant and signal weapons – as well as knives and daggers. (dpa)
