A man shoots a 20-year-old cashier in a gas station: his motive – the mask requirement. t-online researched what the killer had previously posted on social networks.
The Idar-Oberstein shooter had apparently been an opponent of masks since the beginning of the corona pandemic and doubted the danger posed by the virus. This is shown by the man’s entries in a social network. 49-year-old Mario N. confessed to having shot a 20-year-old cashier at a gas station in Idar-Oberstein because he hadn’t seen any other way to set an example. The student at the cash register had insisted that the man obey the obligation to wear a mask.
The man apparently did not know the victim beforehand. The investigators assume protracted investigations into the background. “We have to get a clear picture of ourselves now,” said Chief Public Prosecutor Kai Fuhrmann. Investigators said that the man was “well versed” in the theories of the corona deniers. But he had not committed a criminal offense or was known from demonstrations.
The man’s activities in a primarily professional network give an insight. They also show: The computer scientist, who among other things developed apps, was already familiar with the Telegram messenger app at the beginning of the Corona crisis. Telegram is considered a radicalization instrument because almost no posts are deleted there and there is also little contradiction.
“We don’t have a virus problem”
t-online found a profile of Mario N. with his name on the messenger service. “Ignorance is the most dangerous type of stupidity” is the motto. The account is not in any of the common groups of the lateral thinker scene. But that does not rule out that he used other profiles for this .
In a mainly professional network, N. already gave advice in April 2020 not to load videos with controversial or incorrect medical statements on common video platforms. Under a video “SARS + Corona + 5G + 60hz + Oxygen” with the description “We don’t have a virus problem, we have an oxygen problem,” he commented accordingly. The video must be mirrored.
When everyday masks were recommended and the Federal Ministry of Health posted an article about it, he responded critically: “What I find more worrying is the restricted breathing.” His wife works in retail and, like many of her colleagues, has complained of headaches and fatigue “since they were condemned to wear a mask”. He called the lockdown at that time “nonsensical”, but it offered companies the involuntary chance to check processes.
He supported comments directed against exclusion
His contributions speak a lot of distrust in state institutions: he liked reactions such as “Is the RKI reliable?” or “WHO can tell me”. It was about the WHO recommendation to wash your hands preventively. Thumbs up also got a comment: “The NWO is due.” He was disappointed by the FDP as the opposition.
But no contribution triggered as many reactions from him as one under the heading “Diving into conspiracy theories”. He supported comments that were directed against exclusion. He also liked contributions that dealt critically with conspiracy ideologies, warned to pay attention to freedom and observance of rights. His only comment there was whether the death numbers were really true.
Many of his likes were comments that demanded openness to arguments from those who think differently and complained about a narrow corridor of opinions. But he also liked the contribution of a user who wrote that one was getting used to the smaller circle of friends and to being called a spinner. The comment comes from a user with whom he interacts a lot and who questions the existence of the Federal Republic of Germany.
N’s alleged Twitter account follows AfD and Maaßen
The think tank CeMAS, which specializes in conspiracy ideologies, came across a Twitter account, which they also assign to the man. The account mainly follows accounts of the AfD, but also Hans-Georg Maaßen. In a post in September 2019, he wrote that he was looking forward to the next war. “We just can’t get out of this spiral.”
The Twitter account has been inactive since October 2019. There had been silence in the professional network for around four months.
Do such insights say anything about the crime? Criminal psychologist Lydia Benecke warns: Psychological backgrounds would be clarified in a forensic assessment of the alleged perpetrator. “Even if many people now want a quick answer to the question why such an act was committed: This is not possible at the moment,” said Benecke of the dpa. “There can be very different backgrounds for such an act.” It should also be examined whether a mental disorder or the effects of alcohol or drugs played a role.
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