A court in Oldenburg, Germany, has cleared the way for a 28-year-old police officer to stand trial over the fatal shooting of 21-year-old Lorenz in the city's pedestrian zone on the night before Easter Sunday 2025.
The officer shot Lorenz from behind, striking him at least three times in the upper body, hip, and head, according to the indictment filed by Oldenburg prosecutors in November 2025. Lorenz died in hospital. The court found sufficient grounds to charge him with negligent homicide rather than manslaughter or murder, accepting that the officer mistakenly believed he was acting in self-defence.
Prosecutors allege Lorenz was attempting to flee at the time of the shooting and had sprayed an irritant gas but did not use a knife he was carrying.