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CRIME

Suspect released in San Francisco tourist shooting

San Francisco police have announced they would not charge the 18-year-old suspect they had arrested for the shooting death of a German tourist over the weekend, saying they lacked evidence.

Suspect released in San Francisco tourist shooting
Photo: DPA

Phillip Stewart was released along with four other men who had been arrested after they were spotted by a taxi driver leaving the scene, the San Francisco Chronicle reported on Wednesday.

Mechthild Schröer, 50, of Minden, North Rhine-Westphalia was walking with her husband near the city’s popular Union Square plaza around 9 pm on Sunday when she was caught in the crossfire between two groups and shot in the head, the paper said.

Two teenagers, a 15-year-old boy and a 19-year-old woman, both from San Francisco, also sustained minor injuries in the shooting, according to local broadcaster KTVU on Tuesday.

Schröer and her husband had come to the city to celebrate their 25th anniversary and her 50th birthday.

The altercation was apparently between two groups of young people outside a private end-of-summer party. Nearby security cameras captured some of the shooting, which police are still reviewing as they await results for ballistics tests, district attorney’s office spokesman Seth Steward said in a statement.

“Currently, there is no positive identification of who caused the tragic death of Mechthild Schröer,” Steward said, adding that there was still a possibility the 18-year-old suspect Stewart might be charged.

Meanwhile police chief Jeff Godown told the paper that the case was “complicated.”

“It was a large crime scene, a lot of people out there. It’s going to take some time,” he said.

The paper added that the cab driver who followed the group leaving the crime scene and reported their whereabouts to police was hailed as a hero by Mayor Gavin Newsom.

The victim’s husband Stefan Schröer returned to Germany on Monday.

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CRIME

Aide to German far-right MEP arrested on suspicion of spying for China

An aide to a German far-right politician standing in June's European Union elections has been arrested on suspicion of spying for China, German prosecutors said on Tuesday.

Aide to German far-right MEP arrested on suspicion of spying for China

The man, named only as Jian G., stands accused of sharing information about negotiations at European Parliament with a Chinese intelligence service and of spying on Chinese opposition figures in Germany, federal prosecutors said in a statement.

On the website of the European Parliament, Jian Guo is listed as an accredited assistant to MEP Maximilian Krah, the far-right AfD party’s lead candidate in the forthcoming EU-wide elections.

He is a German national who has reportedly worked as an aide to Krah in Brussels since 2019.

The suspect “is an employee of a Chinese secret service”, prosecutors said.

“In January 2024, the accused repeatedly passed on information about negotiations and decisions in the European Parliament to his intelligence service client.

“He also spied on Chinese opposition members in Germany for the intelligence service.”

The suspect was arrested in the eastern German city of Dresden on Monday and his homes were searched, they added.

The accused lives in both Dresden and Brussels, according to broadcasters ARD, RBB and SWR, who broke the news about the arrest.

The AfD said the allegations were “very disturbing”.

“As we have no further information on the case, we must wait for further investigations by federal prosecutors,” party spokesman Michael Pfalzgraf said in a statement.

The case is likely to fuel concern in the West about aggressive Chinese espionage.

It comes after Germany on Monday arrested three German nationals suspected of spying for China by providing access to secret maritime technology.

READ ALSO: Germany arrests three suspected of spying for China

China’s embassy in Berlin “firmly” rejected the allegations, according to Chinese state-run news agency Xinhua.

According to German media, the two cases are not connected.

In Britain on Monday, two men were charged with handing over “articles, notes, documents or information” to China between 2021 and last year.

Police named the men as Christopher Berry, 32, and Christoper Cash, 29, who previously worked at the UK parliament as a researcher.

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