Perpetrator dead, police officer injured: man shoots around in Meckenheim

Monday 23 November 2020

Perpetrator dead, policeman injured
Man shoots around in Meckenheim

On Sunday evening a man walks through the streets of Meckenheim and fires shots with a sharp gun. Special forces overpower the suspect, who dies seriously injured at the scene. His motive is still unclear.

In Meckenheim near Bonn, a man shooting around triggered a major police operation on Sunday evening. There was an exchange of fire before the suspect could be overwhelmed, said a police spokesman. At first it was said that the man had been seriously injured in the attack by the special forces. The police later confirmed that he had died on the spot.

According to the information, residents had called the police in the area near the old town and reported a rioter. The man was out on the street and was shooting around. While the police were on their way to the scene, the shooter moved on. “Here he gave – according to our current state of knowledge – more shots,” said the police spokesman. It was a “very dynamic situation”. Numerous police officers were “partly heavily armed in the streets”, reports the “Bonner Generalanzeiger”. Accordingly, the man also aimed at the arriving officers, who returned fire. A policeman was seriously injured in the hand by a bullet.

There is no information about other injured persons. The surrounding buildings could not be evacuated so quickly due to the overall situation, said the police spokesman. In the city with around 27,000 inhabitants, which is surrounded by fruit fields south of Bonn, many roads were blocked off. According to the officials, doctors and paramedics were also on site, as were pastors. At first it was unclear who the suspect was, as was his motive.