In the dispute over wearing a corona mask, a 49-year-old is said to have shot a gas station cashier in Idar-Oberstein (Rhineland-Palatinate).
The man was annoyed because the employee did not want to sell him beer because he did not wear a mouth and nose protection, said chief prosecutor Kai Fuhrmann on Monday in Idar-Oberstein.
An arrest warrant for murder was issued against the German suspect from the Birkenfeld district at the Bad Kreuznach district court.
The alleged perpetrator confessed to having killed the 20-year-old student with a targeted shot in the head, said Fuhrmann.
As for the motive, he stated that the situation of the corona pandemic was a heavy burden on him.
He felt pushed into a corner and "saw no other way out" than to set an example.
The victim seemed to him "responsible for the overall situation, since it had enforced the rules," said Fuhrmann.
According to the previous investigations, the 49-year-old had entered the sales room of the gas station without a mask on Saturday evening and placed two six-packs of beer on the counter at the cash register.
The cashier pointed out the mask requirement to the man - whereupon the man left the room and threateningly raised his hand.
A good hour later he appeared again at the gas station - this time he wore a mouth and nose cover, took another six-pack of beer, and went to the cash register.
"There he took off the mouth and nose cover," said Fuhrmann.
The cashier had again advised the man to comply with the mask requirement: The perpetrator then pulled a revolver and shot the 20-year-old.
The suspect was arrested on Sunday morning on the premises of the police in Idar-Oberstein.
"We assume that he wanted to surrender," said Trier's police chief Friedel Durben.
"This is definitely a special case: We did not have such an act in either the Trier police headquarters or in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate that suggests a connection to Corona."