He would shoot his way free if someone stood in his way. With this statement, the 39-year-old accused drew attention to himself in the past. This is reported by a hunter in the trial of the Kusel police officer murder. The accused was known as a poacher.
After the deadly shots at two police officers near Kusel in the Palatinate, some hunters in Saarland quickly suspected the main suspect as the suspected perpetrator. In the murder trial before the Kaiserslautern district court, a hunter reported that, after talking to acquaintances, he called the police around 9 a.m. the morning after the crime on January 31 and said that it could have been the accused 39-year-old.
In fact, they had previously heard about it from the news. "We knew he was poaching," said the 36-year-old. And many would have been afraid of him. Because during a hunt in autumn 2021 he said in front of others: he would shoot his way free if someone stood in his way. The witness said he had spread fear. At the end of 2021, the hunters wanted to contact the police, but the officer responsible was ill. Because the suspicion that the 39-year-old was poaching across Saarland to the neighboring Palatinate had previously been confirmed.
The 39-year-old man, known as a poacher, has been the main accused since June 21. According to the indictment, he is said to have killed a police candidate and a police commissioner with gunshots in the head during a night-time vehicle check at the end of January in order to cover up poaching. The act of violence caused nationwide horror. An accomplice is charged with attempted evasion. He is said to have helped cover up the tracks.
A friend had previously described the main suspect as a particularly good marksman. "I don't know of a better shooter," said the 67-year-old from Homburg, who works in hunter training and has known the 39-year-old for many years. The accused was "extremely passionate about hunting" and liked to overflow shooting plans. "He just has a few more horsepower than other people."
