Resident in custody after guard killed at refugee housing near Berlin
A 37-year-old resident at a refugee accommodation centre in the city of Potsdam just outside Berlin is being held in custody after a violent incident at the facility on Wednesday night left a security guard dead.
Prosecutors are seeking to charge the suspect with manslaughter over the death of the security guard, a Syrian citizen, who died in hospital from his injuries on Thursday morning.
"The 37-year-old transgender person suspected of the offence, who is a South African citizen and also lives in the accommodation, has not commented on the accusation," the public prosecutor's office said in a statement on Friday.
The authorities released no details about the suspected motive, the circumstances of the violent offence or the instrument of the crime, referring to the ongoing and extensive investigations.
The suspect fled but was captured several hours later in Berlin following an intensive manhunt through the nearby Sanssouci palace gardens in Potsdam and the surrounding area.
A plainclothes policeman later recognized the suspect at Berlin's Alexanderplatz and called for additional officers. Police apprehended the suspect near the Zoologischer Garten railway station.
According to the city administration, the refugee centre in the west of the state capital Potsdam currently houses 30 people in 17 rooms, most of them families. The building was previously a hotel.
