Deadly shots in the middle of the pedestrian zone concern the police and public prosecutor’s office in Bielefeld. According to consistent reports, the victim is a former professional boxer. Citing personal rights, the investigators did not want to give a name.
According to official information from the police and public prosecutor’s office, the victim is a 38-year-old from Bielefeld with Kosovar nationality. According to initial police findings, the man was in the city center on Saturday when the shots hit him from close range. How many shots were fired will only be clear once the autopsy report is available, said a spokeswoman for the Bielefeld police at the request of the German Press Agency in Düsseldorf.
The police report stated that the man died “at the scene due to the severity of his injuries.” On Saturday evening, forensics could be seen in the cordoned-off old town. A murder squad is investigating. “According to the current state of knowledge, there is no risk to uninvolved third parties,” it said in an initial statement.
Suspicions were not confirmed
“The investigation into the perpetrators is ongoing,” report the police and public prosecutor’s office. Late on Saturday evening, a person was initially arrested after a witness statement suggested possible involvement in the crime. “However, the suspicion was not confirmed,” the investigators concluded. “The person was released.”
Special forces also searched several apartments in the city area. This did not initially lead to possible perpetrators being caught. The investigators are now relying on observations and images from witnesses at the crime scene.
Initially, no reliable information was made public about the possible motive – for example, speculation as to whether clan crime could have played a role in the case. She could neither confirm nor deny that, the Bielefeld police spokeswoman told the dpa.
Raids in the Ruhr area with Interior Minister Reul
While the murder took place in East Westphalia, North Rhine-Westphalia’s Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) was with investigators in the Ruhr area during raids against clan crime. The operation in Duisburg was a component of his “policy of 1000 needle pricks”. The aim is to continually flush out the perpetrator networks, explained the minister.
“Today we showed again that criminals can never feel safe,” he said after the operation. Many offenses have also come to light in Duisburg, “which indicate that there are people here who think they can do whatever they want. We won’t allow that.”
