The 29-year-old Turkish-Swiss man accused of murdering a random victim in front of a kebab shop Saturday evening in Morges has confessed to his crime, saying it was justified for “revenge against the Swiss state” and “the Prophet”, revealed Swiss news outlet RTS.
Arrested on Sunday in possession of the murder weapon and a copy of the Quran, he justified his crime by “revenge against the Swiss State” by attacking a man representing its population. He also said it was “to avenge the Prophet”, a source close to the investigation told RTS on Wednesday.
The Portuguese victim, who died at the scene, was a resident in the area and worked for a transport company. He was present with his girlfriend when the attacker murdered him.
Omer A. was considered a danger to the internal and external security of Switzerland since 2017 by the Confederation’s Intelligence Service (SRC) and was also a defendant in an ongoing criminal trial.
According to a law enforcement source, he had an “unstable, potentially violent psychological profile”, and was believed to have “connections with sympathizers of the jihadist cause”.
Due to the threat the man posed, the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Confederation (MPC) to ask that he no longer reside in the hotel but that he be placed in a more suitable psychiatric institution.
However, while it is true that no internment, in the formal sense of the term, was requested, the MPC confirmed to the RTS that on Aug. 19 he had sent an e-mail to the Vaud authorities to indicate that the accommodation in a hotel room was not adequate, and a place in a hostel or psychiatric establishment had to be quickly found.
The authorities replied that there was no place available immediately, despite the deterioration of the mental health of the young radicalized and his lack of cooperation in monitoring socio-educational measures. The result is known: left to himself and wandering the streets of Morges, he struck at random on Saturday night.
Act of terrorism
According to a federal security source, this was an act of a terrorist nature. The young man, psychologically unbalanced, breaking with his Turkish-Swiss family established in western Lausanne, had been actively monitored since 2017 as a radicalized individual.
He was imprisoned in April 2019 after trying to set fire to a gas station in his neighborhood. He was released from prison in July this year, RTS reported. In addition, he escaped the social and psychological net set up by the Public Ministry of the Confederation.
Why was he released?
As he was already on the radar of the Intelligence Services for suspicion of radicalization since 2017, it was the Federal Prosecutor’s Office that took up the case and managed his preventive detention.
For what reasons was he released this summer, despite a violent and unbalanced profile, and under what conditions?
A press release from the MPC released on Wednesday afternoon explains that alternative measures included a nighttime curfew, an obligation to register, and a ban on carrying weapons. Until the homicide, the MPC affirms “not to have been informed of any violation of the imposed substitution measures which would have justified a new detention”.
In the immediate circle, the family refuses to speak out. Ties with the suspect have been severed for over a year. The family, however, regularly collaborated with the police in an attempt to stem the radicalization of Omer.
