By Karin Hendrich
It was just before closing time. Gabriel H. (21) was packing his purchase behind the cash register when he saw the man in the black hoodie and a gun in his hand in the corner of his eye…
On Tuesday before the regional court, he still had the attack on March 25, 2023 on a Norma branch in Marzahn in his mind’s eye. How the gunman grabs the cashier’s arm, pulls him off the chair. How the cashier yells “help, heist”.
“I’ll be right there. Wanted to put the culprit in a headlock, which I didn’t really succeed in doing. There was a scuffle…”
Cashier Jeremie W. (22): “When I managed to get the gun.” The perpetrator was the last customer. “When he demanded money, I quickly slammed the register shut. I thought the gun was real. He pulled me out. Then the threesome. Then the terrible bang of the shattering window pane…”
A shot? Just a beer bottle thrown from the outside – as it turned out later. Witness Gabriel H.: “I let go of the man and ran into a back corner. And trembled like a leaf.” The cashier fled to the office, where a colleague called the police.
The accused Chris R. (30) repentant: “I would like to ask for forgiveness.” That evening he was with his brother, who was addicted to heroin, like him at the time. “But he’s even worse than me.”
On the way back he wanted to quickly get a coke and something for supper. “I put the goods on the conveyor belt and paid with a 20-euro note.” When he saw a lot of bills in the open cash register, he thought of the dealer’s debts. And the airsoft gun in his backpack. Which wasn’t his. But later he wanted to play with it. “I drew them and demanded money.”
When he suddenly found himself alone in front of the closed cash register after the scramble, he didn’t think twice and pushed a sack of potting soil over the scanner. And hastily picked out 3700 euros.
“During the three months in prison I had enough time to think about my future. And decided to do therapy.”
Continuation: Tuesday (12 September)