Now it is certain for the investigators, the daily mirror had already reported on Sunday: The trigger for the murder of a 38-year-old on Saturday in Spandau was a dispute over the apartment of a 79-year-old. He shot the younger man on Saturday and hit him five times. The victim is an employee of a boat rental company based there on a peninsula south of the Frey Bridge.
The 36-year-old managing director and co-owner of the company was almost killed, as the public prosecutor officially announced on Monday. The 79-year-old tried to lure him into his apartment under a pretext.
But the 36-year-old saw the 38-year-old dead on the ground there – he fled and alerted the police. The 79-year-old then poured out petrol in his apartment and set it on fire. He then died in the flames he had set himself.
When the police arrived at the property in Wilhelmstadt at noon, the officers found the bodies of the 79-year-old tenant and the 38-year-old employee of the company.
The crime scene is a bungalow-like, low-rise extension directly on a single-family house. There used to be a boathouse there that rented out berths.
The company was liquidated a few years ago. A company founded in November 2021 has been based there since the beginning of 2022. Among other things, the following is noted for the GmbH in the commercial register: “Rental of water sports vehicles, rental of apartments and houseboats, events and events, gastronomy, sale and trade of boats and boat accessories”.
According to the public prosecutor, the new owners had asked the 79-year-old to move out of the extension. Only after purchasing the property in 2022 did the new company notice that the granny flat was an unauthorized building.
Neighbors reported that the 38-year-old had been at odds with the 79-year-old for months. The 79-year-old had lived there for years, even when his former wife sold the property to the boat rental company. Residents also reported that the 38-year-old had repeatedly asked the older man to move out.
But he insisted until the very end that he had secured a lifelong right of residence in the annex when the property was sold. Neighbors now believe the dispute has escalated.
The family, on the other hand, said there had been no arguments and no threats. “There was no urging,” said the brother of the killed P. “My brother and his business partner helped the old man in whatever way they could. They didn’t want to take the chance that a 79-year-old man should simply be thrown out on the street by the authorities,” he said.
“So they had him insured, got him a new apartment, invited him to be present at all times and would have paid for the move,” said the brother. The old man was even called a mascot. The 79-year-old knew that he lived in an unauthorized extension and that the authorities would throw him out on the street.
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As the investigators confirmed, the new owners are said to have even taken care of a new apartment for the 79-year-old. According to the public prosecutor’s office, the lease could have been signed on the day of the crime. “Without any arguments or threats beforehand, the man decided to kill those responsible for his upcoming move and then take his own life,” the prosecutor said.
The investigation is being conducted into murder and attempted murder. However, since the 79-year-old perpetrator is dead and can no longer be brought to justice, the proceedings will continue as so-called death investigation proceedings and will probably ultimately be discontinued.
After the fact, the fire brigade also took a woman out of the family home on Saturday – she is pregnant, it shouldn’t be long until the due date, they said. It is said to be the life partner of the 38-year-old who was killed. She is said to have been in shock.
