16-year-old killed in Dortmund: Police bodycams were turned off when shots were fired

Five bullets from a police gun hit a 16-year-old in a youth welfare facility in Dortmund.

16-year-old killed in Dortmund: Police bodycams were turned off when shots were fired

Five bullets from a police gun hit a 16-year-old in a youth welfare facility in Dortmund. The boy dies. It is unclear exactly how this could have happened. Bodycams could probably have brought more insights - but the police officers didn't turn them on.

According to investigators, the body cameras of the officers involved were not switched on during a deadly police operation in Dortmund. In case of doubt, the cameras on the police officers' vests could have provided more information about the operation in which a 16-year-old Senegalese man was fatally injured by five bullets.

According to investigators, the use of the Dortmund police was initially not suitable for a body cam – since the youth apparently wanted to kill himself with a knife. When the situation changed and the 16-year-old approached the police officers with the knife, the situation became so stressful for the officers within seconds that nobody thought of the bodycam.

The public prosecutor's office in Dortmund and the uninvolved police in Recklinghausen are currently reconstructing what happened on Monday last week. According to the investigation so far, the 16-year-old approached the police with a knife despite the use of pepper spray and tasers. A police officer stationed for security had fired his submachine gun six times, five bullets hit the youth, from which he died.

Interior Minister Reul meanwhile replied to a letter from the deputy SPD parliamentary group leader Elisabeth Müller-Witt and briefly summarized the events in Dortmund in a letter. A copy of the letter was sent to the heads of the other parliamentary groups.

In the letter, Reul described the details that were already known and emphasized the presumption of innocence that applies to the police officer with the submachine gun. The State Criminal Police Office is accompanying the investigations by the Recklinghausen homicide commission, which represents an "additional neutral investigative body".