When biochemistry student Nikolai G. (18) entered lecture hall INF 360 at Heidelberg University at around 12:25 p.m. on Monday, he fired a student (23) in the head without hesitation. The question remains: why?
by T. Biermann, O. Kröning, D. Path, A. zu Castell-Rüdenhausen, R. Stanger, P. Wilke and J. Wollbrett
The assassination attempt on campus – and the question of what drove the just 18-year-old, who later shot himself, to this incredible act.
►THE SHOOTER: Nikolai G. came from Berlin, grew up in Wilmersdorf and is said to have only lived in Mannheim for a few months – in a small apartment in a run-down apartment building.
According to BZ information, as a 17-year-old he received a youth sentence for assault and is said to have suffered from a mental illness.
►THE VICTIMS: Of the 30 students in the classroom, he only shot the female student in the head. Two other women (19, 21) and a man (20) were slightly injured, possibly from stray shot.
Was G. actually only aiming for the 23-year-old? 32 police officers from the “Botanik” investigative group are now examining several cell phones and PCs in search of answers.
►THE WITNESSES: Chantal Belli (57) was in the Corona test center – around 100 meters from the lecture hall: “I heard a loud bang, then sirens. I saw rescuers trying to revive a man. Only later did I find out that it was the gunman.”
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Eram (22), molecular biotechnology student: “It was shocking, we all heard the helicopter. I was often in the lecture hall, luckily not that day.”
Two employees of the research center had only just escaped the killer shortly before! They were standing at the foot of the stairs to the foyer when Nikolai G. came out of the lecture hall and pointed the gun at them. But he didn’t pull the trigger! The men escaped.
►THE WEAPONS: The 18-year-old stormed the lecture hall with a double-barreled shotgun and a silver and black lever-action rifle with a truncated barrel.
He owned the weapons illegally, investigators found a few days old receipts from abroad.
The police are now checking whether someone got him the guns.