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2021 Idar-Oberstein shooting
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2021 Idar-Oberstein shooting
On September 18, 2021, a fatal attack with a firearm on the 20-year-old employee of a gas station was carried out in Idar-Oberstein, Germany. The perpetrator, a 49-year-old man, had been requested by the employee to wear his surgical mask as mandated by the German government in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The shooting received a lot of public attention and was related by some to the increasing radicalization of the so-called Querdenken movement or to the recent rise of right-wing conspiracy theories, while criminal psychologists pointed to the possibility that the shooter may have been driven by personal or psychological problems. In September 2022, the perpetrator was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in jail; both prosecution and defence lodged appeals against the verdict.
On Saturday evening, September 18, 2021, the 20-year-old victim was working at an Aral gas station (BP) in Idar-Oberstein. At 7:42 p.m. the suspect entered the store to buy two six-packs of beer. However, the employee refused to sell him the beer, and twice referred to the mask requirement. Recordings from the CCTV showed a mask in the back pocket of the alleged murderer. Instead of putting it on, he bumped his hands against the beer packs in anger and threatened the employee with his left fist as he left the store.
At about 9:30 p.m. the man returned to the gas station. He was now wearing a mask and in the meantime had also exchanged his previously white T-shirt for a black one. At the counter, he pulled down the mask and thus provoked the argument again. Then he pulled out a gun and shot the employee in the head. The victim fell to ground and was instantly dead. The shooter fled on foot.
The victim of the murder was 20-year-old student Alexander W., who had a job at the gas station. He worked at the store in order to earn money to get his driver's license.
Police arrested 49-year-old software developer Mario N. from Idar-Oberstein, who by September 22 confessed to the killing. He had not drawn police attention before and was also not known to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution (German domestic intelligence agency).
For years, Mario N. was active in right-wing social networks. He was active in Telegram and according to research by Der Spiegel and the think tank CeMAS, had already been noticed in 2020 for nebulous fantasies of violence. On social media, he said he was a disappointed CDU voter. He mainly followed accounts of the right-wing AfD and people belonging to it, but also the CDU candidate for the Bundestag and former head of the constitutional protection Hans-Georg Maaßen. He "shared right-wing channels, commented on Trump, believes that climate change is a lie," according to CeMAS. He welcomed what he thought was an imminent war. Literally he wrote in September 2019 on Twitter: "I'm looking forward to the next war. Yes, that may sound destructive now, but we just can't get out of this spiral." In his last tweet on the profile from October 2020, he wrote: "My muscles are tense, my mind sharpened. Grace to those who created this situation. Or no, mercy would be wrong."
N. not only stored the alleged murder weapon, but also other firearms and ammunition with him. The police pointed out that he did not legally own any of the weapons as N. has no gun license and is not a marksman. It is unclear where the weapon came from.
On October 4, it became known that N. had told police that he had consumed several beers before the shooting. To which degree this may have affected the shooter was the subject of investigation. A blood alcohol test taken twelve hours after the shooting had only yielded minor traces of alcohol.
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2021 Idar-Oberstein shooting
On September 18, 2021, a fatal attack with a firearm on the 20-year-old employee of a gas station was carried out in Idar-Oberstein, Germany. The perpetrator, a 49-year-old man, had been requested by the employee to wear his surgical mask as mandated by the German government in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The shooting received a lot of public attention and was related by some to the increasing radicalization of the so-called Querdenken movement or to the recent rise of right-wing conspiracy theories, while criminal psychologists pointed to the possibility that the shooter may have been driven by personal or psychological problems. In September 2022, the perpetrator was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in jail; both prosecution and defence lodged appeals against the verdict.
On Saturday evening, September 18, 2021, the 20-year-old victim was working at an Aral gas station (BP) in Idar-Oberstein. At 7:42 p.m. the suspect entered the store to buy two six-packs of beer. However, the employee refused to sell him the beer, and twice referred to the mask requirement. Recordings from the CCTV showed a mask in the back pocket of the alleged murderer. Instead of putting it on, he bumped his hands against the beer packs in anger and threatened the employee with his left fist as he left the store.
At about 9:30 p.m. the man returned to the gas station. He was now wearing a mask and in the meantime had also exchanged his previously white T-shirt for a black one. At the counter, he pulled down the mask and thus provoked the argument again. Then he pulled out a gun and shot the employee in the head. The victim fell to ground and was instantly dead. The shooter fled on foot.
The victim of the murder was 20-year-old student Alexander W., who had a job at the gas station. He worked at the store in order to earn money to get his driver's license.
Police arrested 49-year-old software developer Mario N. from Idar-Oberstein, who by September 22 confessed to the killing. He had not drawn police attention before and was also not known to the Office for the Protection of the Constitution (German domestic intelligence agency).
For years, Mario N. was active in right-wing social networks. He was active in Telegram and according to research by Der Spiegel and the think tank CeMAS, had already been noticed in 2020 for nebulous fantasies of violence. On social media, he said he was a disappointed CDU voter. He mainly followed accounts of the right-wing AfD and people belonging to it, but also the CDU candidate for the Bundestag and former head of the constitutional protection Hans-Georg Maaßen. He "shared right-wing channels, commented on Trump, believes that climate change is a lie," according to CeMAS. He welcomed what he thought was an imminent war. Literally he wrote in September 2019 on Twitter: "I'm looking forward to the next war. Yes, that may sound destructive now, but we just can't get out of this spiral." In his last tweet on the profile from October 2020, he wrote: "My muscles are tense, my mind sharpened. Grace to those who created this situation. Or no, mercy would be wrong."
N. not only stored the alleged murder weapon, but also other firearms and ammunition with him. The police pointed out that he did not legally own any of the weapons as N. has no gun license and is not a marksman. It is unclear where the weapon came from.
On October 4, it became known that N. had told police that he had consumed several beers before the shooting. To which degree this may have affected the shooter was the subject of investigation. A blood alcohol test taken twelve hours after the shooting had only yielded minor traces of alcohol.