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German police mistakenly shoot soldier on training exercise (www.dw.com)
submitted 1 week ago by schizoidman@lemmy.zip to c/europe@feddit.org
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[-] CocaineShrimp@sh.itjust.works 25 points 1 week ago

An unfortunate series of events

Soldier was firing blanks towards the officer, and the officer probably panicked and fired back; thinking they were being shot at.

For those unaware: blank rounds / blanks is a special type of ammunition you can use in a real firearm that doesn't have a projectile (ie the bullet). Military and police use blanks to simulate real ammo being fired out of the gun so they get used to the bang, mechanics of the firearm, having to reload, fixing jams, etc.

Other than the actual bullet, there are only a few noticeable differences between real ammo and blanks:

  • The firearm has to be modified to be able to use the blanks. Usually they put a bright yellow plug at the end of the barrel. It helps the firearm function properly, and will catch a bullet in case live ammunition is used
  • The bang is a bit louder.

From the officers perspective: they got calls saying there was a shooter. They arrive on scene, and someone starts shooting at them. I'd shit my pants too and shoot back

[-] poVoq@slrpnk.net 13 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Apparently it was the military police that started firing with blanks, but regardless of if it was a regular soldier or not, what training scenario were they doing that required them shooting on local police and doing that in a residential area? Civil war?

[-] vf2000@lemmy.zip 13 points 1 week ago

what training scenario were they doing

As reported the days before (translated from German):

According to the Bundeswehr, the deployed forces are to train operations against threats behind a fictional front line, in what is referred to as the "rear area." This includes scenarios involving drones, sabotage, or so-called "irregular forces," meaning armed fighters not belonging to a state army. The assumption is that a NATO member state is attacked, and the alliance must respond to defend it.

Training will also focus on tasks such as working at crime scenes, directing traffic, locating weapon caches, combating illegal arms trade, and protecting critical infrastructure, for example, at the decommissioned Isar 2 nuclear power plant. Soldiers will also practice defending against enemy drones and deploying their own.

[-] poVoq@slrpnk.net 3 points 1 week ago

Ok, and how does that scenario involve having to shoot on clearly marked local police forces?

[-] tabloid@feddit.org 13 points 1 week ago

Local police was involved in the exercise. So the soldier likely mistook the arriving police force as part of the exercise, when they were not.

[-] vf2000@lemmy.zip 9 points 1 week ago

I suggest waiting for the report of the official investigation.

[-] anzo@programming.dev 1 points 1 week ago

This. The question itself is kinds rhetoric at this point. We are all surprised with this case. It's.. absurd

[-] wizzor@sopuli.xyz 7 points 1 week ago

I was an MP and they had similar scenarios for us. Unmarked forces in odd uniforms, fighting in residential and industrial areas, tunnels and infrastructure targets.

Usually though we didn't fire guns with civilians around and police knew we were around.

[-] huppakee@piefed.social 5 points 1 week ago

What I read is that because they were training for a scenario not at the front, the person who shot the blanks believed the person shooting the real bullets was part of the scenario.

Let's hope he for some understandable reason thought was 'the enemy is using police uniforms' and not 'the police chose the side of the enemy'. Clearly the threat they practice for is a Russian invasion, not a civil uprising.

[-] Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 week ago

Note that not wearing your own uniform is a warcrime.

Note also that Russia has done this basically nonstop since 2014.

[-] unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 7 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Bavarian police said they had been responding to reports of a man carrying a weapon and deployed multiple units to the southeast of Erding, including a helicopter, early on Wednesday evening.

WTF is the Bundeswehr doing? How are they just doing drills without informing the local police beforehand in a country where open carrying weapons is illegal. Super lucky that nobody died.

According to German daily Bild, the military police fired practice ammunition at the arriving police officers, believing this was part of the military exercise.

Also very odd decision by that person to just assume that. You are in a public space, not a training facility.

[-] Legianus@programming.dev 9 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

So it doesnt say in this article, but the police and the local population were informed weeks before.

Not sure why the Bundeswehr fired at the policemen (albeit practice ammunition) -- weird, but the police is incompetent here.

Edit: Grammar

[-] Tar_alcaran@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 week ago

Not sure why the Bundeswehr fired at the policemen (albeit practice ammunition)

He thought they were part of the excersize. If you know The Enemy is wearing local police uniform, and some people wearing local police uniform come at you, telling you to drop your weapon, the reaction makes a lot of sense.

What doesn't make sense is why that specific cop didn't know what was going on.

[-] unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 1 week ago

Oh ok then its just silly by everyone yeah

[-] Jaizter@feddit.org 2 points 1 week ago

While this is a huge WTF, take everything that comes from BILD with a mountain of salt until confirmed by a reputable source.

[-] ranzispa@mander.xyz 3 points 1 week ago

That operation was not very well planned out. How do you do a training in public space without extensively informing the population beforehand?

This is the least that could happen, imagine the panic in the population which could have arisen. Possibly people having hearth attacks and stuff like that.

Besides, you're in the military; grow up and train with live bullets.

[-] vf2000@lemmy.zip 19 points 1 week ago

How do you do a training in public space without extensively informing the population beforehand?

Before, various German national, regional, and local media outlets reported extensively on this exercise. Commentators on BR complained that this seems like a routine exercise, questioning why it should be considered anything more than a local headline.

And such exercises require approval from other government authorities. It’s not saying, “Let’s just drive to the city and practice shooting.”

train with live bullets

How exactly does one train shooting at human targets (soldiers presenting the enemy or locals) with live ammunition?

[-] ranzispa@mander.xyz 2 points 1 week ago

Oh, I see. But apparently it was not communicated enough since even a police man took it as a danger.

Regarding live bullets, I was only joking. It was something done in training certain special troops in Italy during world war I. Many people died during training indeed.

[-] Ooops@feddit.org 7 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

They informed the public, as well as the police (and fire and rescue services) which were part of that exercise. Someone missing the announcements is to be expected but should be handled by the police informing him when he calls them.

But that's Bavaria for you... constantly screwing up then blaming others.

The knife attack in Aschaffenburg that made big news and was then exploited by the very same conservatives who simply ignored that well known guy for.... reasons... to then advocate for knive bans, more surveilance and mass deportations? Bavarian authorities.

Discussions about the alleged failure of weed decriminalisation because it did not reduce the black market or save money by reducing workload for the police and other offices? Spearheaded by Bavaria, where they have spend nearly 1½ years now simply ignoring federal legislation while also creating additional offce jobs just to delay, block and sabotage the cannabis clubs meant to create accessibility.

Digitalisation? Not in Bavaria where court files are transmitted via fax again this year because they can't manage to get their IT systems running stable.

Does Wirecard ring a bell? Guess who is dragging their feet with the court proceedings for 5 years now...

[-] LowtierComputer@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

Believe it or not, live bullets are dangerous.

this post was submitted on 23 Oct 2025
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