Sport shooter shoots three neighbors in the stairwell

No time? blue News summarizes for you

• A marksman shot three neighbors in a stairwell in Germany.
• The man has now been sentenced to life imprisonment.
• According to the judiciary, the man had wanted to "clean up the house".

Summary created with

Bloody end to long disputes: one year after the murder of three neighbors, a 65-year-old sports shooter has been sentenced to life imprisonment by the Augsburg District Court. The criminal court also established the particular gravity of his guilt. If the verdict for three counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder becomes final, this would make it considerably more difficult for the German citizen to be released on parole after just 15 years in prison.

With the guilty verdict, the criminal court followed the prosecution's request. The defense lawyer, however, immediately announced an application for an appeal to the Federal Court of Justice. Attorney Walter Rubach had applied for a maximum 15-year prison sentence because his client was of reduced culpability due to a mental illness. This had been certified by an expert commissioned by the defense.

The murder with a pistol was the result of recurring arguments between neighbors in the apartment building in Langweid in the district of Augsburg. According to the investigation, the accused killed two women and a man with shots to the head within just 16 seconds on July 28, 2023. The trigger is said to have been another argument with vile mutual insults between the accused and a neighbor, as a result of which the neighbor had also alerted the police.

Audio recording documented the execution of three neighbors in the stairwell

As one of the murder victims had activated an audio recording on his cell phone a few minutes before the bloody deed, there is an exact audio document of the gruesome crime. The 65-year-old had ambushed a couple from the neighborhood in the stairwell and virtually executed the 49 and 52-year-old couple with a pistol that he legally owned.

He then allegedly shot a 72-year-old neighbor through her apartment door. The accused is said to have deliberately fired in the area of the peephole because he suspected that the woman was looking through the peephole because of the shots - as was actually the case.

The man then drove to the home of two relatives of the pensioner who had been killed and also seriously injured them by firing further shots through their front door. Both are still suffering psychologically from the bloody deed.

Court sees vigilante justice as motive and orders pause for reflection

The criminal court is convinced that the accused acted out of anger at his neighbors, out of hatred and revenge. He wanted to clean up the house. "It was actually the motive of vigilante justice," said presiding judge Michael Eberle. The marksman had pronounced a death sentence on the other occupants of the house and carried it out immediately.

After the guilty verdict, Eberle gave the defendant another 15 minutes to think about accepting the sentence immediately - a highly unusual procedure. The judge said that this might allow the man to correct the image people had of him somewhat. However, defense attorney Rubach stated after the quarter of an hour that his client would not accept the verdict. "I've never experienced anything like this in 45 years," the experienced defense lawyer later commented on the final pause for reflection.

The defendant had mostly followed the reasons for the verdict with a stubborn look ahead, largely emotionless, as he sat in the dock on most days of the trial. He had claimed that he could no longer remember the crime. However, the court did not believe this.

Crime triggered new discussion about gun laws

A year ago, the crime had also triggered a renewed discussion about gun laws. The accused had held a gun license as a marksman for decades and had been in possession of the murder weapon for almost a quarter of a century. The Augsburg District Office emphasized that the man had been regularly checked by the weapons authority without any abnormalities.

District Administrator Martin Sailer (CSU) showed understanding for the renewed discussion about gun laws. He emphasized a few days after the crime: "However, we as the legal supervisory authority are not responsible for this, it is purely a political decision."