Central Station

Following the fatal shooting at Frankfurt Central Station, the suspect initially did not comment on the allegations. Photo: dpa/Andreas Arnold

A man is said to have shot another man in the head and killed him in Frankfurt’s main train station. The suspect is keeping quiet. The crime, which took place in the middle of a busy place, raises many questions.

After the fatal shooting in Frankfurt Central Station, the suspect initially did not comment on the allegations. This was stated by the spokesman for the Frankfurt public prosecutor’s office, Dominik Mies. The 54-year-old, who according to our newspaper’s research comes from Lahr in the Black Forest, is said to have killed a 27-year-old by shooting him in the head on Tuesday evening. All traces are being evaluated, witnesses are being questioned and all admissible evidence is being evaluated.

The suspected perpetrator was arrested by the federal police shortly after the crime. An arrest warrant was issued against him on suspicion of murder. The victim died at the scene of the attack. On Thursday, the public prosecutor’s office did not provide any information about the relationship between the two Turkish citizens.

Nancy Faeser expresses condolences to relatives

Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) expressed her condolences to the victim’s relatives. The incident at the main station had left her stunned; it was an “unbelievably brutal act,” she said on the sidelines of a visit to the Federal Criminal Police Office in Wiesbaden. Faeser reiterated that a weapons ban zone, such as the one set up at Frankfurt’s main station, makes sense. Although it can never prevent such terrible acts, the police can carry out controls in these zones more easily.

Meanwhile, alleged surveillance camera footage is circulating on the Internet, showing a man approaching a second man from behind, pointing a gun at the back of his head, and the man falling to the ground shortly afterwards. “We have of course taken note of this,” said Mies. However, he will not comment on it.

According to the investigation, the suspect shot the 27-year-old twice in the head while he was lying on the ground. Federal police officers prevented the man from boarding a train and escaping, it was said.

Perpetrator must have had a strong motive

Such an act in the middle of a busy main train station: “There is something demonstrative about it, perhaps even staged,” says criminal psychologist Rudolf Egg. “Anyone who commits such an act in public takes a very high risk of being discovered,” says the former long-time director of the Central Criminological Office in Wiesbaden. The perpetrator must have been aware that surveillance cameras were recording the act and that there were many witnesses. He must have expected that he would not get away with it, which would result in a life sentence.

“If someone does something like that, they must have had a very strong motive or been under a lot of pressure,” says Egg. Perhaps there was no other way to commit the crime. At the moment, we can only speculate, including about possible backgrounds. The motive for the bloody crime has not yet been clarified. In their investigations, however, the police are increasingly assuming a possible blood feud.

A nighttime weapons ban has been in effect at Frankfurt Central Station since June 1. Since then, no weapons in accordance with the Weapons Act or knives with a fixed or lockable blade with a length of more than four centimeters may be carried in the station building between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m.