After the deadly police shots from a submachine gun at a 16-year-old in Dortmund a good three weeks ago, the shooter is still being investigated on suspicion of bodily harm resulting in death. However, it is being examined whether the investigation will be expanded to include the suspicion of manslaughter. According to a report by the Ministry of the Interior to the state parliament, which is available to the German Press Agency, investigations are also being carried out into four other officers who “used weapons or resources against the young person” during the controversial operation.
The new investigations are directed against two female police officers, one police officer and the police officer in charge, who ordered the use of the irritant spray device and also made other orders for the course of the operation. What is also new is that twelve officers were involved in the operation, including four in civilian clothes. So far, eleven emergency services were assumed.
After the controversial police operation on August 8, investigations were initially started against the police officer because of the initial suspicion of bodily harm resulting in death.
The police were called to the courtyard of a youth welfare facility in the north of Dortmund on the day that the 16-year-old held a 15 to 20 centimeter knife to his stomach. The operation initially ran as a suicide attempt. According to the current state of investigation, the officials spoke to the young person in several languages. The unaccompanied minor refugee from Senegal had come to Germany in April and only days before the deployment to Dortmund and is said not to have spoken German well. Finally, pepper spray and two tasers were used, one of which hit.
According to the current status, the 16-year-old ran towards the officers with the knife. The police officer fired his submachine gun six times. So far it has been said that five shots hit the youngster in the face, forearm, stomach and two times in the shoulder. According to the autopsy, he was hit four times. He died later in hospital.
Several aspects of the mission caused criticism. It was about the fact that the police officers’ body cams were not switched on. The reason: The filming of “highly personal circumstances” in a suicide mission is not allowed. And when the situation changed, according to the officials, the situation became so stressful that nobody thought about the body cam. The fact that several shots were fired from a submachine gun at an apparently suicidal youth also caused consternation. Since July 2018, two MP5s have been part of the equipment in every radio patrol car in North Rhine-Westphalia. Questions also raised that the 16-year-old had been in a psychiatric ward shortly before his death.
There were also allegations of police violence, with particular emphasis on the fact that the police shot a black youth. In Dortmund there were demonstrations of the left spectrum and the African community. According to the prosecutor, there was no evidence that skin color played a role in the operation.