German prosecutors have filed charges against a soldier suspected of killing four people, including a child, earlier this year.
The Bundeswehr soldier is suspected of fatally shooting four people in the northern German state of Lower Saxony on March 1.
According to investigators, the soldier killed the victims out of hatred and revenge, against the backdrop of marital problems.
The regional court in Verden must now decide whether to open proceedings.
The victims all came from the circle of the alleged perpetrator’s wife, after the two had separated. The 32-year-old is said to have first murdered his ex-partner’s new boyfriend and his mother. Then he is said to have shot dead a friend of his ex-partner and her 3-year-old daughter.
The next morning, the man is said to have reported to the Von Düring barracks in the town of Rotenburg, near the alleged crime scene.
Police officers who were called arrested the man. He has been in custody since the offense. According to the police, the suspect is not a member of the barracks.
The soldier was armed with an assault rifle and a pistol. According to investigators, the weapons did not come from the Bundeswehr stock.
In the driver’s door of his car was a Molotov cocktail and in the trunk was ammunition next to a Bundeswehr backpack. What the man intended to do with it remained unclear at first.
Shortly before the crime, the ex-partner and her new boyfriend – one of the victims – had sought help and reported the suspect for making threats.
