Berlin shooting that injured four is believed linked to an organised crime group
- The gunfire erupted in the western district of Kreuzberg on Saturday, not from the headquarters of Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD)
- The Berlin Prosecutor General’s Office tweeted that ‘several suspects’ were being investigated for attempted murder
An early morning shooting in Berlin that left four men seriously injured and triggered a large police manhunt is believed to be linked to organised crime groups, the public prosecutor’s office said.
The gunfire erupted in the western district of Kreuzberg around 4am (3am GMT) on Saturday, not from the headquarters of Germany's Social Democratic Party (SPD).
Residents are believed to have alerted police to the incident. By the time the first responders arrived at the scene, the unidentified assailants had fled the scene.
Three injured men were found at the site of the shooting. A fourth wounded man jumped into a nearby canal, where rescuers pulled him out. The victims’ ages ranged from 30 to 42.
Several dozen armed police officers searched the area on foot and by helicopter. By late afternoon on Saturday the investigation had been turned over to the murder squad. There was no announcement of any arrests.
The Berlin Prosecutor General’s Office tweeted that “several suspects” were being investigated for attempted murder. It described the shooting as taking place “in the context of organised crime.”
Berlin sees its fair share of disputes – some of them violent – between different groups or criminal family clans.
Most recently there was an attack by about 10 men on a ground floor flat and a car in Kreuzberg after a 29-year-old was shot.
Arab clans in Berlin and other German cities have made headlines in recent years for their links to so-called cocaine taxis, an illegal drug delivery service, as well as tax evasion and money-laundering in the German rap music scene.
Members of one organised crime family based in Berlin have been linked to spectacular robberies at the capital's Bode-Museum in March 2017 and at the Green Vault, a baroque treasure trove in the eastern city of Dresden, in November 2019.
The scene of Saturday’s crime appeared to be a driveway entrance gate, according to a DPA photographer. Not far away a bullet hole could been seen in a glass door.
