Schütze von Berngau was a former police trainee - he was fired before completing his training

The man who is said to have killed two government employees in the Upper Palatinate during a gun check began police training in the 1980s. The police say he was a police officer in training in Bavaria from 1988 onwards. But he was then released before the end of his training. Nothing was known about the reasons. “Bild” had previously reported on the 60-year-old’s police past.

The man is said to have shot a 45-year-old employee of the district office and his 54-year-old colleague in Berngau in the Neumarkt district on Thursday when they went to see the hunter and sports shooter for a weapons check.

He was arrested after barricading himself in a house in Berngau for hours. According to police, he called the operations center himself and admitted that he had shot. He also said he was in his apartment, in possession of firearms and would not give up without resistance.

The 60-year-old will be brought before an investigating judge after his medical treatment. This would then decide on the question of pre-trial detention or placement in a specialist clinic.

According to the weapons register, the man legally owned ten weapons as a sports shooter and hunter. According to the district office, his inspection was carried out routinely and without prior notice.

According to the current status of the investigation, the 60-year-old was not previously known to the police, said Bavaria's Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU). The man was a hunter and sports shooter. There is no evidence of any kind of extremist sentiment.

The motive of the 60-year-old German remains unclear for the time being, said Herrmann. Neither the State Security nor the Office for the Protection of the Constitution have had any information about him yet. However, investigations are being carried out in all directions and, among other things, it is being checked whether the man had a history of contact with the Neumarkt district office in Upper Palatinate, said Herrmann.

Herrmann emphasized that around 10,000 such gun controls take place in Bavaria every year. There have been no such incidents on such occasions in recent years.

The situation was different when a Reich citizen shot a police officer in Ansbach, emphasized Herrmann. At that time it was about the targeted disarmament of the man, which is why the police accompanied the municipal employees. However, the procedures for such controls will be discussed with the district administration authorities, said Herrmann.