BERLIN, Feb 1 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Two men, 38-year-old and 32-year-old respectively, were arrested on suspicion of shooting two police officers dead during a traffic control on a rural road in western Germany Monday morning, according to a press release by local authorities.
The shooting occurred at around 4:20 a.m. in Kusel in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, after the two police officers had pulled over a car during a routine traffic stop.
The two police officers, a 29-year-old male officer and a 24-year-old female officer, “were fatally injured by gunshots,” according to the joint press release by the local public prosecutor’s office and the local police headquarters.
Announcing the arrest of a 38-year-old man, police said they were also holding a second man, 32, provisionally.
A search for possible accomplices continued, they added.
The suspect was arrested in Sulzbach, Saarland, shortly after 17:00 and will be brought before an investigating judge in Kaiserslautern on Tuesday.
Roads in the area were closed on Monday and authorities urged people not to pick up hitchhikers.
Some details of the incident are unclear. As yet there is little description of what happened in the attack and police have not suggested a possible motive.
German newspaper Bild reports that the officers sent two radio messages from the road.
In the first, the officers reportedly said that they had stopped a suspicious vehicle and discovered dead game in the boot.
A second message followed soon after, the paper added. “They’re shooting at us!” the officers reportedly said, before radio contact broke off.
By the time reinforcements arrived the female officer was already dead, local media report. Her colleague died soon after.
“This terrible act leaves you stunned,” tweeted Marco Buschmann, Germany’s Justice Minister.
Sabrina Kunz, state chairwoman of the police union, said their thoughts were with the relatives and colleagues of the dead.
“We are living through the true nightmare of all police officers,” she said, adding she was “stunned” by what had happened. — NNN-AGENCIES
