It started with a dispute over a seat in a cinema in Berlin, which is why the feud between two Roma families from Bosnia-Herzegovina smoldered for years and finally culminated in blood feuds. In the end, a 42-year-old man was literally executed in front of a shisha bar in Wedding. The Berlin public prosecutor’s office has now filed charges of joint murder in the case against three men aged 29, 34 and 52.
The crime of the two brothers and their father happened on October 2, 2021. A 42-year-old was killed on the sidewalk by two targeted shots in the head. The motive for the crime: The defendant’s sister and daughter was shot dead in an argument with the 42-year-old – accidentally and with her own family’s gun.
Until the shots were fired in front of the shisha bar, the feud between the two families of the victim and the perpetrator had lasted 16 years. Prosecutors believe that involvement after a row over a seat at a movie theater turned into a family feud. Several disputes are said to have been settled in the years that followed, but there are said to have been more arguments.
The families met again at a wedding celebration in October 2018. They are said to have insulted each other. The man who was later shot is said to have been hit for minutes, kicked and severely injured by members of the other family. Two of those now accused of murder were therefore prosecuted in 2019.
The regional court had sentenced the 34-year-old and his father to three years in prison for joint dangerous bodily harm. The judges credited them with the fact that they only wanted to give the man a lesson – and they had shown remorse and acknowledgment of the wrong.
[True crimes, researched and told by the Tagesspiegel: Listen to our new true crime podcast “Tatort Berlin”]
The judges were obviously wrong about the men. The sister and daughter of the now accused were also killed at the wedding party. When her family attacked, one of their relatives was carrying a firearm that was unsecured. A shot was fired and hit the woman, fatally injuring her.
Although the attacking family killed the woman from their own family, they blamed the attacked man from the other family. Investigators report threats against them, oaths that revenge will be taken on him.
So-called justices of the peace are also said to have been called in by the two families, a parallel judiciary for arbitration procedures within the milieu. The result: the later victim had to leave Berlin, and in September he was said to have been signaled that he could come back.
[If you want to have all the latest news live on your mobile phone, we recommend our app, which you can download here for Apple and Android devices.]
When the 42-year-old was shot dead, the father and his 34-year-old offspring had not yet served their sentence for the act of violence at the wedding celebration. But they were in open prison and could leave the prison during the day. The father and his two sons then sat in the shisha bar on October 2nd, when the 42-year-old also appeared there, the trio is said to have felt provoked. Then they pulled the trigger.
The father and a son were caught and put in a closed prison. The 29-year-old was arrested on the run two weeks after the crime in Regensburg, Bavaria.