A 26-year-old Turkish man, Abdulsamet Y., and another Turkish suspect are accused of gunning down a German man sitting inside his car in March. They are being investigated in connection with a hate crime for targeting their victim because he was German.
The incident, which happened on March 7 inside a parking garage, had mystified German authorities for months. However, investigators now say that the murder of 58-year-old Christian Nolte was preceded by a traffic accident involving the victim and the perpetrator days before. Notle had photographed the perpetrator’s car, which apparently provoked the Turkish man.
“That’s when the Dortmund man decided to kill him,” said the investigating prosecutor, according to the Bild newspaper. The two men ambushed the victim inside the garage while he was sitting inside his Audi. They shot Nolte multiple times and fled the scene.
However, Bild reports that the traffic dispute was not the only factor behind the killing. According to the prosecutor’s office, “anger and rejection toward German citizens” also served as a motive in the case.
Police had formed a special commission after the murder and offered a reward of up to 5,000 euros for evidence leading to the conviction of the perpetrator. A raid involving heavily armed police forces resulted in two men being taken into custody.
As Remix News recently reported, according to police crime statistics (PKS), 36 percent of all suspects identified for “crimes against life” in 2022 had no German passport. This is the most serious crime category, which includes murder. However, similar statistics are seen for crimes that cause “serious bodily harm,” such as assault. Of the 144,430 suspects in this category last year, 55,250 were foreigners, amounting to 38 percent.
