When he was being held hostage in prison, the Halle assassin used a weapon-like object capable of shooting. This is the result of an expert report by the Federal Criminal Police Office, as the public prosecutor’s office in Naumburg announced on Thursday. It was therefore a “homemade, manual device that was suitable for delivering light projectiles”.
According to the information, the weapon-like object consisted mainly of components of a stapler, a wooden pin, wires and a small metal tube that served as a barrel. In the barrel, the experts found parts of a cartridge that was apparently also composed of everyday objects, including the push button of a ballpoint pen. A battery pack with commercially available batteries was attached to the handle.
The Halle assassin tried to escape from the prison in Burg near Magdeburg in December last year. One after the other, he had taken two servants into his power and threatened them with the weapon-like object.
It was initially unclear whether the object was actually a dangerous object. The expert opinion of the BKA now comes to the conclusion that the device was similar to a weapon and capable of being fired. However, the impact energy in an attempted shot was less than 0.4 joules from a distance of 20 centimeters. For comparison: With an air rifle, the value is up to 7.5 joules.
The public prosecutor’s office in Naumburg is investigating the matter. Their criminal assessment is currently being completed, the authority said. Since the incident in Burg, the Halle assassin has been in another prison in Bavaria.
The racist and anti-Semitic assassin was sentenced to life imprisonment and subsequent preventive detention in December 2020. On October 9, 2019, Yom Kippur, the highest Jewish holiday, he tried to storm the synagogue in Halle and cause a massacre. When he failed, he murdered two people near the synagogue and injured others. Even then he had homemade weapons with him.
