Emergency services arrest the man with the submachine gun Photo: Spreepicture
By Dirk Boettger
Emergency call shortly after 8 p.m. on Friday evening: Two men are standing in front of a Jewish school on Grosse Hamburger Strasse in Mitte, one is openly carrying a submachine gun.
Police operation! In addition to an emergency vehicle, special forces also rolled in. With their guns drawn, they asked the men to put the submachine gun on the ground.
What the two did according to BZ information. The forces arrested the weapon bearer, his companion was allowed to go after the identity check.
An officer inspects the airsoft submachine gun Photo: Spreepicture
The weapon was an airsoft weapon, but this can hardly be seen from a distance, even for experienced emergency services.
It is still unclear what the men with the airsoft gun were up to in front of the Jewish school. But one thing is certain: this action in front of a Jewish facility marked as a security area could have ended differently.
The man was transported to a detention center and is now awaiting at least one charge of violating the Weapons Act. So-called sham weapons may not be carried in public by law. They must be transported in a locked container, not accessible and not ready to fire.
Hardly distinguishable from a real weapon – the attacker carried this dummy submachine gun Photo: Spreepicture
A breach of this is an administrative offense and can be punished with a fine of up to ten thousand euros.
The term “apparent weapon” includes model weapons, sometimes also airsoft guns and toy guns. The Weapons Act thus bans airsoft games “outside the pacified property”.