Duisburg: After a fatal police shot, the public prosecutor's office examines the officers' pistols and bodycams

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A police officer in Duisburg leaves a house at the scene; there, an officer had shot a man armed with a knife

Photo: Chris Faith / dpa

After the fatal shooting of an armed attacker by a Duisburg police officer, the service weapons and bodycams of the police officers involved have been seized. They would be examined in the same way as the uniforms and the electric pulse devices, said the public prosecutor's office in Duisburg.

A police officer shot the attacker armed with a knife in Duisburg on Thursday. According to North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU), the officer had initially tried to stop the attacker with a stun gun. When this did not work, the policeman fired a shot from his service weapon. The shot was fatal.

The autopsy of the shot 56-year-old was also planned for Friday. So far, there has been no information on the results. "Further investigations, including the autopsy and the evaluation of the extensively secured traces, are ongoing," the public prosecutor's office said.

Police in North Rhine-Westphalia: Bodycams must be worn, but not switched on

Also, the public prosecutor's office has not yet said whether the bodycams of the police officers had been switched on during the operation. Just over a year ago, a police officer shot a submachine gun at a 16-year-old teenager in Dortmund, who later died. The bodycams of the officers involved were not switched on.

At the end of April, NRW had made it compulsory for the so-called bodycams to be worn by the police. However, there is no obligation to switch on the cameras attached to the uniform so far.

According to the Duisburg public prosecutor's office, paramedics from the fire brigade, who were supposed to take the man to a psychiatric hospital, had asked the police for support in the current case. "The reason for the police operation was a request for help," said the public prosecutor's office.

The 56-year-old is said to have attacked the officers in the stairwell with a knife. For reasons of neutrality, the Düsseldorf police took over the further investigations. The public prosecutor's office in Duisburg ordered the establishment of a homicide squad.

jso/dpa