German policeman asks for inquiries after killing black people outside a nightclub
German civil rights activists demanded an independent investigation into alleged police racism after a police officer shot a 21-year-old black man from the back and killed him after a dispute outside a nightclub.
The 27-year-old officer was suspended in a shooting in Northwest Fort in Germany early Sunday morning, state prosecutors said. In Germany, deadly police shootings are relatively rare, with prosecutors citing in local media, saying that suspensions and investigations are “conventional.”
Police have not identified the victim due to data protection laws, but media and pressure groups have identified him as Lorenz A.
Police said in a statement that the man, a German citizen, refused to enter after sprinkling pepper on security personnel outside the club, injured four people and threatened others with a knife while running away.
When the patrol vehicle tracked him, police said he used pepper spray again and approached the 27-year-old officer in a threatening manner. Police then opened fire.
The coroner’s report found that at least three bullets hit the man from behind: the back of the torso and hip, local prosecutors said. It is believed that the fourth shot swept over his thigh. He later died in the hospital.
National Interior Minister Daniela Behrens said the autopsy results raised “serious problems and serious doubts” and must be “irrelevantly resolved and resolved”.
Police representatives warned not to rush to judge. “There are allegations of racism because the deceased are people of color,” said Kevin Komolka, national president of the GDP Police Alliance, to public broadcaster NDR. “There is a mood that develops into a trigger for the police hooligan.”
Prosecutors have begun evaluating security camera videos and audio recordings at the scene and said there is no indication that Lorentz A had threatened police with his knife. The officer’s body camera was reportedly turned off.
The rights group that organized a rally in Oldenburg on Friday said the deadly shooting had attracted serious attention.
Amnesty International’s German chapter said the killings “affected the entire community and everyone affected by racism.” It said any investigation into incidents led by police would be biased. “We ultimately need an independent investigation mechanism that is not under the control of the police or internal affairs authorities,” it said.
The black man from the German Initiative (ISD) cited Lorentz’s friends and family, calling him an avid basketball player and a “vibrant entertaining person.”
“Now he is dead and killed by an agency that should protect us,” it said in a statement, adding to the call for an independent investigation and the State’s National Complaints Office against allegations of police racism.
The movement against extremism and racism in German society, the Amadeu Antonio Foundation also condemned the incidents it said were not isolated and questioned the reasons why the police had reason to worry about his life.
According to police, the Lorenz Group’s justices had gatherings and parades with more than 15,000 followers on social media, with at least 1,000 people expected. Similar vigils were held in Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and Vienna.
Related: Berlin reports increased attacks on refugees amid surge in far-right crime
The Black Lives Matter campaign launched by George Floyd after his murder in 2020 has also led to radicals focusing on German police. In September of that year, 29 officials in the western and northern part of the western region were temporarily suspended after discovering their units shared extreme right-wing content on a WhatsApp team, including shootings by refugees in gas chambers and young blacks.
A 2024 study found that 30% of German police made racist comments last year, with reports of anti-Muslim sentiment significantly increasing.
The news agency DPA said that on average 10.5 people are shot dead by German police every year. However, last year there were 22 victims – more than twice the average – and 11 such cases have been reported this year.
In 2023, last year there were statistics that the German Federal Criminal Police reported record violence against firefighters, police and emergency service personnel.
