People all over Germany are mourning the young police officer Rouven L., who died in the line of duty. He was brutally stabbed by the Mannheim knife attacker. But even after his death, the 29-year-old continues to save lives.
Rouven L. began his last shift on a Friday, the last day of May. The young police officer wanted to protect people – and lost his own life in the process. 25-year-old Sulaiman A. stabbed him in the head on Mannheim’s market square. Rouven L. succumbed to his injuries.
Even after his death, Rouven L. did not stop saving people’s lives. The police officer was an organ donor. When the doctors confirmed that he was brain dead, he was still connected to a heart-lung machine for hours. Then on Sunday the news came: The machines had been turned off. His heart had stopped beating.
His colleagues remembered the deceased on Sunday at a memorial ceremony at the crime scene. “Our brave police officer Rouven L. officially died today at 5:03 p.m. as a result of his injuries in a terrorist attack,” said Thomas R. J. Franz, the regional chairman of the Weisser Ring Baden-Württemberg, to “Bild”. “My deepest sympathy goes out to his family, his friends and all his colleagues in the police force.”
Rouven’s colleagues are in shock. In recent years, Rouven has been everywhere where there is a fire, they told Bild. “He always gave his best and was therefore supported. He was committed and straightforward. We can’t believe we have lost him.” Police authorities, state criminal police offices and the Federal Criminal Police Office mourned him nationwide on the platform X under the hashtag
Michael Stürzenberger, the man who was probably the target of the attack, also reported from the hospital. “My thoughts are with his family and his police colleagues,” said the member of the anti-Islam movement Pax Europa (BPE) in his Telegram channel. “He did his best in Mannheim on Friday. He was the victim of a brutal, ruthless killer who, probably imbued with his ideology, also saw the police as his enemy. Because they defend the free, democratic constitutional state that he wants to abolish. May Rouven L. rest in peace.”
In Baden-Württemberg, politicians were also shocked by the death of the young police officer. “The news shocks me to the core,” said Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann. “This terrible act painfully shows us all the often incalculable risks that police officers are exposed to every day,” said the Green politician. Interior Minister Thomas Strobl (CDU) said the death was “infinitely sad.” “These are moments when the world seems to stand still.” The reality is: “For the police officers, every operation can potentially be dangerous, with unforeseeable consequences for their health and their lives.”
After the police officer’s death was announced, Mannheim’s mayor Christian Specht said: “His death shows what hatred and incitement can do.” At the same time, the CDU politician appealed to citizens: “I ask you all: Let us pause in the face of this tragic development and work together to unite our city society in all its diversity and avoid any division!”
The attacker injured a total of six men in his bloody act, including Rouven L. The state security department of the Karlsruhe public prosecutor’s office, which is responsible for political crimes, took over the investigation after the attack. However, the motive of the 25-year-old perpetrator is still unclear. So far, the man, who was born in Afghanistan and came to Germany as a teenager in 2014, has not been able to be questioned – he was also injured in the minutes after the attack.
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