A special task force was deployed yesterday morning for a case involving a 55-year-old man– a Reichsbürger (a German sovereign citizen). The police say that several shots were fired and one officer suffered a gunshot wound to the leg. He was not critically injured.
After negotiations, the man eventually left the building with another person. All seven people who are living at the site were arrested.
After the gunshots, the property caught on fire, causing several loud explosions. Officers believe that there was ammunition and other like materials stored at the site, which may have contributed to the explosions.
The police are continuing to investigate but thus far they have confirmed that the 55-year-old man was affiliated with the Reichsbürger scene. He had already been known to police for other offenses. Because of these pass offences, he was not allowed to own a gun. His refusal to hand over his weapon is what precipitated this most recent SWAT involvement.
“The German Police Union (DPolG) sees in the so-called Reichsbürger an “increasing danger to the rule of law and internal security,” it said in a press release on Wednesday afternoon. The union also directly links this assessment to the large-scale operation in Boxberg-Bobstadt – where one currently looks with “great concern.”
Update#Boxberg,