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Man threatens young people with gun over their music

A man riding a train between Düsseldorf and Dortmund was apparently so bothered by some youths' music and singing, that he pulled out a firearm.

Published: 11 October 2016 11:33 CEST

Man threatens young people with gun over their music

Photo: Federal police (Bundespolizei).

A 28-year-old man from Oberhausen, North Rhine-Westphalia was riding a Eurobahn train between Düsseldorf and Dortmund on Sunday night at about 10pm.

A group of young people between the ages of 18 and 24 were also riding the train and started playing music and singing.

But the visibly drunken 28-year-old apparently did not take a liking to their mobile karaoke show.

“Apparently because he was perturbed by the group of young men and women listening to their music and singing, the 28-year-old man staggered towards the group,” federal police wrote in a report on Monday.

Witnesses told police that the man pulled a pistol out of his waistband and loaded the gun. He then sat down again, but when the train neared a station, he jumped up and threatened the group of youths directly with his weapon drawn.

“You always meet twice in a lifetime, next time I’ll blow you all away,” he then reportedly shouted.

At some point train passengers alerted police to what was happening and when the train stopped at Dortmund central station, officers were able to board, finding the man still standing with his weapon drawn.

The man denied multiple requests by officers to drop his weapon, so police overpowered and arrested him.

They then discovered that the weapon was actually not a “real gun”, but a loaded airsoft handgun, for which it’s required to have a permit to purchase.

The man was already known to police for other violent incidents, and they are now investigating him for making threats and causing dangerous bodily harm.

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Germany, Czech Republic accuse Russia of cyberattacks

The accusations come at a time of strained relations between Moscow and the West following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and the European Union’s support for Kyiv.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said a newly concluded government investigation found that a cyberattack targeting members of the Social Democratic Party had been carried out by a group known as APT28.

APT28 “is steered by the military intelligence service of Russia”, Baerbock told reporters during a visit to Australia.

“In other words, it was a state-sponsored Russian cyberattack on Germany and this is absolutely intolerable and unacceptable and will have consequences.”

APT28, also known as Fancy Bear, has been accused of dozens of cyberattacks in countries around the world. Russia denies being behind such actions.

The hacking attack on German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s SPD party was made public last year. Hackers exploited a previously unknown vulnerability in Microsoft Outlook to compromise e-mail accounts, according to Berlin.

Berlin on Friday summoned the acting charge d’affaires of the Russian embassy over the incident.

The Russian embassy in Germany said its envoy “categorically rejected the accusations that Russian state structures were involved in the given incident… as unsubstantiated and groundless”.

Arms, aerospace targeted: Berlin

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said the cyber campaign was orchestrated by Russia’s military intelligence service GRU and began in 2022. It also targeted German companies in the armaments and aerospace sectors, she said.

Such cyberattacks are “a threat to our democracy, national security and our free societies”, she told a joint news conference in Prague with her Czech counterpart Vit Rakusan.

“We are calling on Russia again to stop these activities,” Faeser added.

Czech government officials said some of its state institutions had also been the target of cyberattacks blamed on APT28, again by exploiting a weakness in Microsoft Outlook in 2023.

Czech Interior Minister Rakusan said his country’s infrastructure had recently experienced “higher dozens” of such attacks.

“The Czech Republic is a target. In the long term, it has been perceived by the Russian Federation as an enemy state,” he told reporters.

EU, NATO condemnation

The German and Czech findings triggered strong condemnation from the European Union.

“The malicious cyber campaign shows Russia’s continuous pattern of irresponsible behaviour in cyberspace, by targeting democratic institutions, government entities and critical infrastructure providers across the European Union and beyond,” EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said.

The EU would “make use of the full spectrum of measures to prevent, deter and respond to Russia’s malicious behaviour in cyberspace”, he added.

State institutions, agencies and entities in other member states including in Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia and Sweden had been targeted by APT28 in the past, the statement added.

The latest accusations come a day after NATO expressed “deep concern” over Russia’s “hybrid actions” including disinformation, sabotage and cyber interference.

The row also comes as millions of Europeans prepare to go to the polls for the European Parliament elections in June, and concerns about foreign meddling are running high.

Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky told AFP that “pointing a finger publicly at a specific attacker is an important tool to protect national interests”.

One of the most high-profile incidents so far blamed on Fancy Bear was a cyberattack in 2015 that paralysed the computer network of the German lower house of parliament, the Bundestag. It forced the entire institution offline for days while it was fixed.

In 2020, the EU imposed sanctions on individuals and entities linked to the APT28 group over the incident.

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