Berlin neighbor dispute escalates; police find weapons and medication
Two men are suspected of threatening a neighbor in Berlin's Britz district, one with an ax-like object. Searches turned up more weapons and medication, police said.
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A dispute between neighbors in an apartment building in Britz, part of Berlin's Neukölln district, prompted a police operation on Wednesday afternoon. A 28-year-old tenant reported at about 4:30 p.m. that two neighbors, aged 44 and 46, had threatened him, Berlin police said. The confrontation began as a verbal argument. The 46-year-old then allegedly went into his apartment and came back with an ax-like object, while the 44-year-old allegedly gestured as if loading a firearm.
The 28-year-old left the building and called police, who arrested the two suspects shortly afterward. The two men said they had in turn been verbally threatened by the 28-year-old, and a counter-complaint was filed against him. That evening, at investigators' request, a court ordered searches of their apartments.
Officers seized evidence, and in the 46-year-old's apartment they also found more weapons and larger quantities of prescription medication. They took a cat from the 44-year-old's apartment into protective custody; two officers were injured in the process and treated at a hospital. Investigations into threats with weapons, violations of the Narcotics Act and the distribution of unapproved medicines are continuing. All involved are presumed innocent.