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Suspects admit to shooting woman dead in Berlin’s Neukölln district

The ex-boyfriend of a 25-year-old woman has admitted to killing her on the street in the heart of one of Berlin’s most fashionable neighbourhoods.

Published: 4 January 2019 15:32 CET

Suspects admit to shooting woman dead in Berlin’s Neukölln district

Police at the crime scene in Oderstraße on December 28th. Photo: DPA

The 29-year-old was arrested on Wednesday and admitted to the crime of shooting his former girlfriend in the head, Berlin prosecutors said.

A day later a 39-year-old accomplice was also arrested and has since admitted his involvement.

The arrests came after a 25-year-old Polish woman was found unconscious on a street in the Neukölln neighbourhood on December 27th.

The woman had been shot in the head on Oderstraße, a street adjacent to the popular Tempelhofer Feld park. A passerby found her lying in the entrance to a courtyard slightly before midnight. Emergency services rushed her to hospital where she underwent emergency surgery, but she died later in the night.

Investigators believe that the ex-boyfriend fired the fatal shot.

Neukölln is a sought after address for young expatriates working in Berlin’s creative industries. As well as hosting a large population of educated young migrants who hang out in its hip bars and cafes, Neukölln is known for organized criminality and often makes headlines as a hotspot for violent crime.

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How politically motivated crimes are rising in Germany

Germany’s Criminal Police Office (BKA) registered 60,028 politically motivated crimes in 2023, the highest number recorded since records of this statistic began in 2001.

That’s almost two percent more politically motivated crimes than were recorded the previous year. But of those, 3,561 cases involved violence, which is approximately 12 percent less compared to 2022.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) presented the statistics this week. “We are seeing a new high in crimes directed against our open and free society,” she said according to Tagesschau. “We must show unequivocally that the rule of law does not accept this violence.”

Majority of political crimes classified as right-wing extremism

With a total of 28,945 crimes, right-wing extremist-motivated cases made up the largest portion of political crimes in 2023 – up 23 percent from the year before.

There were 714 people recorded as being injured by right-wing extremist violence.

The President of the BKA, Holger Münch has previously emphasised that right-wing extremism remains the greatest threat to free democratic basic order in Germany.

Although significantly less were recorded, left-wing extremist attacks also increased last year to 7,777 reported incidents.

Religiously motivated crimes increased by the biggest percent

Crimes registered as religiously motivated increased by the biggest proportion, up 203 percent from the previous year according to the BKA figures – to a total of 1,458.

The number of cases related to a foreign ideology also rose.

Anti-Semitic crimes also reached a new high last year with 5,164 offences being recorded (148 of these being acts of violence).

Conflict in the Middle East has certainly had an effect on domestic crime as well, with 4,369 crimes recorded as being connected. That figure is 70 times higher than the previous year, with more than half of them recorded after Hamas’ attack on October 7th. Of those, 1,927 were considered anti-Semitic by the BKA.

Public servants and asylum-seekers face increasing risk

The number of crimes against politicians and political volunteers also increased by 29 percent last year.

In recent weeks, a worrisome spike in both right- and left-wing attacks on politicians has been observed across Germany.

READ ALSO: Why are German politicians facing increasing attacks?

In her comments, Interior Minister Faeser warned that “a climate of violence” is being brought, especially by right-wing fringe groups.

Also motivated by right-wing ideologies were an increase in the number of attacks on asylum-seekers and refugees. Last year saw a significant increase in these attacks including 321 violent acts and 179 crimes against asylum accommodations registered.

Crimes targeting the “state” fell last year by 28 percent compared with 2022.

READ ALSO: Why experts say Germany’s rising crime rate is misleading

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