• Security incident: ISF was recently accessed by intruders. Please change your password, and change it anywhere else you used it. Read more

German woman kills at hospital with automatic weapon

Doghouse Reilly

Adrift on an uncharted sea
Doghouse Reilly
Joined
Apr 28, 2003
Messages
3,418
A woman in Germany today went on a murder spree at a hospital, killing several people. Apparently she injured a police officer as well before being killed by law enforcement. Without looking at any statistics, my impression is that Germany is the runner-up for mass shootings, behind the United States. Perhaps this is a misconception on my part.

Link in German (with more information than the English outlets right now)

http://www.zeit.de/gesellschaft/zeitgeschehen/2010-09/amoklauf-loerrach

Link in English:

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/br...southern-germany/story-e6frf7jx-1225926504449
 
Last edited:
I couldn't find any reference to the 'automatic' weapon.

Is that only mentioned in the German press release?
 
The first link from "Die Zeit" mentions a submachine gun ("Maschinenpistole"). The online version of the magazine "Spiegel" mentions a small caliber hand gun ("kleinkalibrige Faustfeuerwaffe"). The term used there implies a semiautomatic pistol or revolver, definitely not a submachine gun.
 
elgarak said:
The first link from "Die Zeit" mentions a submachine gun ("Maschinenpistole"). The online version of the magazine "Spiegel" mentions a small caliber hand gun ("kleinkalibrige Faustfeuerwaffe"). The term used there implies a semiautomatic pistol or revolver, definitely not a submachine gun.
Click to expand...
The Herald Sun story says she had a shotgun...
 
Based on my quick scan of news articles, it appears to have been a handgun. This is based on multiples articles based on a press conference from the DA's office ("Staatsanwaltschaft", very closely equivalent to a district attorney's office).

All the articles mentioning a submachine gun are the same (early, based on the lack of other details) article copy and pasted.

Some news outlets mention a "Gewehr" (long gun), which usually denotes rifle or carbine, but not shotgun (however, as mentioned, reporters don't often know proper gun terms. German reporters doubly so, in my experience). But this appears to be the same news agency article copy'n'pasted, again. The "shotgun" in the Herald Sun story sound suspiciously like a mistranslation by a German author who does not know the proper English terms.
 
Last edited:
This is the newest article on ZEIT online, and so far, the best source. No english translation yet that reaches the same quality. A lot of English language articles still mention falsely an "automatic gun" or a "shotgun".

The woman has not been identified with certainty, but appears to have been a local lawyer. She shot and killed her ex-boyfriend and their child in the ex's apartment (the boyfriend and the son lived there, she didn't), across from the hospital. She then started a fire. She seemed to have begun shooting when the firefighters arrived, and ran over into the hospital. She was armed with a small caliber handgun and a knife. On the way to the hospital she shot two civilians. In the hospital, she stabbed a nurse (he died) and shot a police officer in the knee, before she was killed herself by police officers. The civilians and the shot officer survived. No idea what triggered it.

For the gun terms: There seems to be a different definition regarding the term "automatic". In English, and particular the US, it is defined as a gun that shoots as long as the trigger is pressed (according to wiki). In German, the literal same term "automatisch" is defined as a gun that automatically loads another round after a shot has been fired. "Automatische" guns are then sub-divided into "vollautomatisch" (full-auto, covering guns that would be called automatic in the US) and "halbautomatisch" (semi-auto).
 
Last edited:
Well, in as much as you can make a top by country for events which are actually very rare. The flukes can distort that sorting majorly.
 
Damien Evans said:
The Herald Sun is the Australian version of the Daily Fail, only without the titties.
Click to expand...
I think you're mixing your tabloids. :) The UK Sun has the absent-minded young ladies, the Daily Mail doesn't, though the quality of journalism is similar (though the Mail tends to concentrate on immigrants, house prices and which things cause or cure cancer).
 
elgarak said:
For the gun terms: There seems to be a different definition regarding the term "automatic". In English, and particular the US, it is defined as a gun that shoots as long as the trigger is pressed (according to wiki). In German, the literal same term "automatisch" is defined as a gun that automatically loads another round after a shot has been fired. "Automatische" guns are then sub-divided into "vollautomatisch" (full-auto, covering guns that would be called automatic in the US) and "halbautomatisch" (semi-auto).
Click to expand...
The definition is different for handguns. An automatic handgun means one shot for each pull of the trigger, except in the case of revolvers where it would be called double-action (because the cylinder rotates and the hammer re-cocks with each trigger pull), with a single-action revolver the hammer must be re-cocked manually before firing.
 
So she stabbed and killed a nurse?

Durn sharp objects. They ought to be banned. They are nearly as fatal as guns. In this case, only short by one, yet the headline reads "AUTOMATIC WEAPON".
 
I guess she took Folk ans gewehr too literally.


... Jesus christ I'm a horrible person.
 
So, she was packing a hand-shot-machine-rifle?





I'll bet she even had a bayonet on it:
 
casebro said:
Durn sharp objects. They ought to be banned.
Click to expand...

Guns - purpose: to shoot things.

Knives - purpose: an everyday tool for cooking, woodworking, craft skills. Can also be used to stab people.

Yes, of course, I can see that these are exactly the same.
 
Architect said:
Guns - purpose: to shoot things.

Knives - purpose: an everyday tool for cooking, woodworking, craft skills. Can also be used to stab people.

Yes, of course, I can see that these are exactly the same.
Click to expand...

Sarcasm - purpose: to completely confuse Architect.
 
In case someone still cares: She used a .22 target shooting pistol. Legally and registered, as she had been a member of a sport's shooting club. The photo below comes from the German online version of the magazine "Spiegel".
16854c98bf6c7b5fd.jpg
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

ISF - Join now!

Every member here is approved by hand. No bots, no spam, just people who care about evidence and honest debate.

Membership is free!

Create your free account

Back
Top Bottom