Overview

• On December 18, 2024, a 55-year-old businessman fired at least two arrows from his fourth-floor Berlin-Mitte apartment, striking a tree while a passerby took cover and escaped unharmed.
• The Berlin Regional Court found him not criminally responsible due to paranoid schizophrenia and ordered his placement in a Maßregelvollzug psychiatric hospital.
• That confinement was suspended under probation after judges cited his stabilized condition and positive treatment progress in the psychiatric facility.
• Probation terms include mandatory outpatient psychiatric care, monthly depot medication, a ban on weapons, alcohol and drugs, and five years of court supervision.
• The defendant confessed and expressed remorse, saying he believed in a “construction mafia” conspiracy in Berlin and sought to draw attention to his fears.