German police recorded 22 fatalities in 2024, the highest number this century, according to dpa.
Law enforcement records indicate that German police fatally shot 22 people in 2024, exceeding any other year this century. This figure more than doubles the 10 fatalities recorded in 2023, surpassing the 11 in 2022 and 8 in 2021.
Civil Rights and Police statistics suggest this might be the highest annual death toll since German reunification in 1990, exceeding the previous record of 19 deaths in both 1995 and 1999.
Many incidents involved individuals experiencing psychological distress, often armed with knives. A case in point is the shooting of a 31-year-old woman in a Munich supermarket, who had a history of mental health and drug-related issues and prior police contact.
A fatal shooting on December 31, 2024, in Grünsfeld, Baden-Württemberg, involved a 38-year-old man who stole an excavator, caused significant damage, and injured officers during a lengthy pursuit.
This followed the Magdeburg Christmas market attack on December 20, 2024, where a car plowed into a crowd, resulting in six deaths and over 200 injuries. The suspect, a 50-year-old Saudi doctor, was apprehended at the scene.
Jochen Kopelke, head of the German Police Union (GdP), linked the increase in fatal shootings to rising societal violence in October, citing more aggressive attacks on officers, forcing decisive action in escalating situations.
Recent police data shows a substantial increase in violent crime in Germany, reaching a 15-year high in 2023 with 214,099 reported cases—an 8.6% rise from the previous year. Overall crime increased by 5.5%, totaling 5.94 million cases, the highest since 2016.