The 45-year-old Turkish man who last Monday opened fire and killed six welfare workers at a women and children’s shelter in Stade, Lower Saxony, Germany, reportedly escaped from a prison in Turkey, where he was facing serious criminal charges — including the sexual abuse of his own daughter. According to the German newspaper BILD, the man arrested for the deadly attacks on welfare workers at the women and children’s residential facility in Stade is alleged to have broken out of a Turkish prison and is at the center of “multiple criminal proceedings” in Turkey.
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In addition to suspicions surrounding a serious sexual offense committed in Kahramanmaraş in 2017, he is also accused of sexually abusing his daughter in Gaziantep in 2022. Between the two incidents, the 45-year-old was taken into custody as part of a separate criminal proceeding, but managed to escape and has been a wanted fugitive ever since. As BILD notes, Turkish authorities had no knowledge of his whereabouts until now.
German prosecutors unaware of the Turkish suspect’s criminal history
According to the newspaper, prosecutors in Lower Saxony were unaware of the suspect’s criminal background. He had no known history of violent offenses in Germany, although he had previously been reported for aggressive behavior and making threats toward doctors and police officers. On Monday, he had a scheduled appointment with a welfare services committee regarding custody of his eight-month-old daughter, whom he is alleged to have violently shaken. The BILD report further states that he has been married three times in Turkey and had also separated from the mother of the infant. The man has been remanded in custody, while German authorities are now cooperating with their Turkish counterparts.
