The accused has already confessed to the fatal shot after the dispute about wearing corona masks at a gas station in Rhineland-Palatinate.

But in his own words, the fifty-year-old could not remember some of the details when he made his statement almost a week ago.

Recordings from surveillance cameras and statements from eyewitnesses should bring more clarity to what happened that evening in Idar-Oberstein a good six months ago in the murder trial before the district court in Bad Kreuznach.

The surveillance videos of the defendant's first visit to the gas station show how he wanted to buy two six-packs of beer without a mask and the cashier apparently refused.

The fifty-year-old left the gas station, obviously angry.

Another video showed him buying five half-liter cans of beer in another gas station, this time wearing a mask.

Additional videos, from different angles, showed him returning to the gas station at a later date.

First you could see how he got a six-pack of beer with a mask and went towards the cash register.

There he pulled down the mask.

After a few moments, he grabbed his gun and shot the 20-year-old victim in the face at close range.

He then put the mask back on and disappeared from camera view.

Hardly anything could be understood in the videos.

The victim's mother, who is taking part in the trial as a joint plaintiff, left the courtroom as the footage was shown.

"He pulled the trigger without hesitation"

The court tried to find out details from three eyewitnesses who were in the gas station at the time of the crime that were not revealed by just looking at the recordings.

The witnesses are a thirty-three-year-old man who also worked at the gas station on the night of the crime, and two young women who said they were only a few meters away from the victim and the accused.

The two nineteen-year-olds each described themselves as ex-girlfriends of the twenty-year-old.

Witnesses largely agreed that all of this happened in a matter of moments.

It remained unclear what exactly was said during the exchange of words between the shooter and the victim.

One of the two witnesses said that the accused seemed "quite normal" until shortly before the shot was fired.

"He pulled the trigger without hesitation and shot it square in the face," she added.

The other witness said, "It came out of nowhere." Both said they were sure their acquaintance had been polite to the customer.

According to their own words, the two nineteen-year-olds have suffered from psychological problems since the crime.

Witnesses suffer from psychological problems after the crime

A language expert later reported on her attempt to reconstruct the exchange of words from the audio tracks of the surveillance camera in the gas station.

Due to the poor sound quality, however, this was only possible to a very limited extent and in many places the result was questionable.

According to her assessment, shortly before the shot was shot, sentences like: "Mask open"..."Come on"..."No"..."Either mask on, or"..."Come on"... "Put up the mask"..."Really?".

Then the shot fell.

The expert explained that she had heard the passages between 200 and 400 times.

In the argument during the first visit, the sentence is said to have fallen: "I have an animal problem with it."

The act last September in Idar-Oberstein (Birkenfeld district) had caused nationwide horror.

The 50-year-old German is also accused of illegal possession of weapons.

Last Friday, the accused fifty-year-old confessed to the shot.

To this day, he cannot explain his actions.

He is aware of the seriousness of the crime and apologizes to the victim's relatives, he said.

He had also reported on the dispute and his later act.