In the aftermath of the shooting that left two dead (including the attacker) and three injured at the University of Heidelberg in southwestern Germany, many questions remain unanswered.
→ THE FACTS. Germany: one dead in a gun attack at a university
What were the motivations of this 18-year-old biology student, living in the city of Mannheim, when he shot four people on Monday, January 24 shortly before 12:30 p.m. in a classroom where about thirty people were ?
A last message to his father
Monday evening, the police and the prosecutor in charge of the case could not give details on the reasons for this act but seemed to rule out political and religious reasons. They indicated that the assailant had had “psychological problems” in the past but was unknown to their services.
According to investigators, the shooter would have sent a message to his father via the WhatsApp messaging network before taking action. “Some people are now going to have to be punished,” he would have written, before expressing the wish for a funeral at sea. The investigation is currently focusing on his entourage.
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Another question mark: did the assailant shoot at random or was he targeting a particular person? According to the investigators, a hundred pieces of ammunition were found in his backpack. The shooter could therefore have targeted more people before killing himself on campus.
“He would have had the possibility of reloading his weapons”, confirmed Mannheim Police Chief Siegfried Kollmar, who confirms that a “Deadly fear ruled the boardroom” and “nobody could have mastered the attacker quickly”. The police therefore do not know why the man stopped shooting after three shots.
A purchase abroad
Finally, how was this young man, who had no gun license, able to buy the two guns found in his possession, including the shotgun with which he perpetrated his attack? Investigators confirm having found evidence of a foreign purchase a few days before the shooting.
Since Monday, shock reigns in the small university town of Heidelberg located near the French border. “We are incredibly shocked”, Peter Abelmann, who represents the student body on university bodies, said on Monday. “It’s an unimaginable catastrophe, between classes, exams and university life”, he commented.
In the evening, Chancellor Olaf Scholz also said ” to have a broken heart “ at the announcement of this attack. As for the Archbishop of Freiburg, Stephan Burger, he condemned the shooting. “Violence and bloodshed can never be a means for anything”, he said, announcing the dispatch of a chaplain on site to support the students. The university plans to hold a ceremony to honor the three injured and the 23-year-old woman killed in the attack.