Tragedy in Trieben

Chief shot dead: Police officer goes on trial

The gunman from the Trieben police station

(Bild: Christian Jauschowetz, zVg, Krone KREATIV)

After the fatal shooting at the police station in Trieben (Styria), the gunman will go on trial in Leoben on Tuesday. "Will he finally break his silence?" - this is one of the questions being asked in the town. 

On February 27, 2023, the tranquil village of Trieben was in shock. At around 7.45 a.m., four shots were fired at the police station of all places. Three of them hit the then post commander (59) and father of three. Each one was fatal.

Threatened with charges of abuse of authority
Why did it have to come to this? The man who was killed had previously threatened the shooter with a complaint and disciplinary proceedings for abuse of office because he had recorded an accident at work but had not logged it and passed it on. The defendant left the room for a few minutes and returned with terrible intentions. His question to his superior was whether the matter could be handled differently. When he replied in the negative, he pulled out his Glock 17 and pulled the trigger four times. "Arrest me, I shot the boss," he told a colleague immediately afterwards. Another officer heard the shots and raised the alarm.

What happened is coming back to life. The team is facing up to it, we talk a lot. We deal with it well.

Triebens Polizei-Kommandant Gerhard Kals

The 47-year-old confessed to the fatal shots. However, he is adamantly silent about the motive for the crime. His lawyer also refused to comment when asked by "Krone". 

Will the accused now break his silence?
He will go on trial in Leoben next Tuesday. "Will he break his silence in front of the jury?" Many people are currently asking themselves this question. In Trieben, too, what happened is once again coming to the fore as the trial approaches. "Everyone is talking about it again, it's all simmering again," confirms Mayor Helmut Schöttl (SPÖ).

Gerhard Kals, the new commander of the hard-pressed department and its employees since the fall, also confirms this: "What happened is coming back to life. The team is facing up to it, we talk a lot. We're dealing with it well." 

Will the trial, which is due to end with a verdict on this day, bring things back to normal? That too is probably a question of time. Wounds heal, but scars remain. 

"It was only a matter of time"
The alleged murderer was "known like bad money" in the Paltental valley, as the story goes. The people of Trieben knew him, but preferred not to "touch" him. "He was said to be manic-depressive, at times he was happy-go-lucky, then saddened to death again," a former colleague told the "Krone" after the terrible bloody deed. 

He had been conspicuous in his behavior and had repeatedly said that he was not happy with his life. When the police officer once even threatened to commit suicide, his colleagues raised the alarm: "Because he was carrying a weapon, we reported it to the authorities several times." However, the police doctor never took action.

"Ticking time bomb"
The "non-compliance with official duties" was also reported several times to superiors in Graz, and complaints about "official acts that got out of hand" kept coming in. Shortly after the bloodbath in Trieben, there was talk of a "ticking time bomb" and it was only a matter of time before "something happened": "The police officer shouted at people and gave a car driver a slap on the wrist." The "Krone" was also told about the 46-year-old's difficult childhood: He had been beaten up and threatened with being killed by his father, a hunter and gun enthusiast. The father was repeatedly rejected by the family.