Euskirchen court shooting
The Euskirchen court shooting was an act of mass murder that occurred at the district court in Euskirchen, Germany on March 9, 1994. Just after his appeal against a sentence for assaulting his former girlfriend, Vera Lamesic, had ended with an upholding of his conviction, 39-year-old Erwin Mikolajczyk re-entered the court building armed with .45-caliber Colt pistol and a homemade bomb in a backpack. In the hallway he fatally shot Lamesic, two women who had accompanied her, as well as two other people, and then entered the court room where he killed 33-year-old Alexander Schäfer, the judge who had convicted him. When he ran out of ammunition, Mikolajczyk killed himself by detonating the bomb. A total of eight people were also wounded in the attack.[1]
| Euskirchen court shooting | |
|---|---|
 Erwin Mikolajczyk | |
| Location | Euskirchen, Germany |
| Date | March 9, 1994 12:58 p.m. (CET) |
Attack type | Mass murder, suicide bombing |
| Weapons | .45-caliber Colt pistol Homemade bomb |
| Deaths | 7 (including the perpetrator) |
| Injured | 8 |
| Perpetrator | Erwin Mikolajczyk |
Victims
- Peter Kurth
- Vera Lamesic, 56
- Agnes Müller
- Peter Preuß
- Marianne Rübsam
- Alexander Schäfer, 33
In popular culture
The film Tag der Abrechnung – Der Amokläufer von Euskirchen, released the same year and starring Christoph Waltz as Erwin Mikolajczyk, is based on the incident.[2]
References
- Brother warned police about courtroom killer, Toledo Blade (March 11, 1994)
- Der „Amokläufer von Euskirchen“ Archived 2012-09-04 at Archive.today, Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger (March 9, 2010)
External links
- Tödlicher Aufschub, Focus (11/1994)
- Schlimmes passiert, Der Spiegel (11/1994)
- Bei dem Anschlag sterben sieben Menschen, General-Anzeiger (March 8, 2004)
- Amoklauf im Amtsgericht, Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger (March 8, 2009)
- Germany - Courtroom shootout, Associated Press (March 10, 1994) (Video)