By Michael Behrendt, Jörg Bergmann, Dirk Böttger, Katharina Metag, Annika Raasch, Olaf Wagner, Maren Wittge and Theresa Zacchaeus
At lunchtime on Wednesday, armed gangsters attacked a money transporter on the busy Uhlandstraße, fired around and raced away!
BZ documents the spectacular raid
Rescue workers and the police were on site with a large contingent Photo: Olaf Wagner
►11.15 a.m. Security guards are bringing cash cassettes to the Postbank branch on Uhlandstrasse (between Berliner Strasse and Güntzelstrasse) when suddenly a black Audi RS6 Avant (8 cylinders, 560 hp, 250 km/h top speed) with tinted windows speeds up.
Two masked men jump out and storm into the branch with pistols drawn. They spray tear gas and shoot at least three times in the air. Customers and employees must lie on the floor. The gangsters loot five gray cash boxes.
► Photos from a witness show the criminals running back to their getaway car: one is wearing a blue and black checked shirt and a baseball cap and is holding a gun, a second is wearing a dark blue jacket with a gray hood.
A third man in a brown jacket with a hood on his head is waiting at the car – and according to BZ information, a fourth gangster is behind the wheel.
The getaway car drives away at high speed in the direction of Mecklenburgische Straße.
Forensic investigators are investigating the crime scene Photo: dpa
“I thought it was a fight because I heard loud screams,” said eyewitness Lina L. “I saw the perpetrators throw metal suitcases into their black station wagon. Then they bolted. Everything happened so quickly, it took less than five minutes.”
The police have started investigations, the perpetrators have fled Photo: Olaf Wagner
► An employee (49) and an employee (39) of the security company are injured, as are two employees (57) of the bank. One has to be treated in hospital with a broken arm, the other suffered respiratory irritation from the irritant gas.
The money transporter in front of the bank Photo: dpa
Eyewitness Frank H.: “I heard screams, but couldn’t recognize any dialect.” Another eyewitness reports, however, that the perpetrators spoke German with an Arabic accent.
An investigator on the BZ: “The procedure of this attack at least allows the assumption that here again members of well-known large families were at work.”
A forensic officer secures clues Photo: dpa
► Until the afternoon, the police secures traces with a large contingent at the scene of the crime, 90 officers are on duty. Striking: You won’t find any shell casings. Apparently, the gangsters fired from a drum revolver that leaves the cases in the chamber.
How much money the brazen bank robbers stole remained unclear until the evening.