Berlin: More Guns on the Streets, Shooters are Getting Younger

In recent days, Berlin has been grappling with a surge in gun violence that has reignited public debate about the city's burgeoning firearms problem. Over the past three nights, there have been three shootings, one of which proved fatal. The incidents have occurred in various locations, including a café in Kreuzberg’s Graefekiez, a hair salon and a bar in Marzahn-Hellersdorf, and the busy Bahnhof Zoo transit hub. A fourth incident occurred earlier this week when gunfire hit the window of a restaurant in Pankow.

The police union GdP has raised concerns over the rise in gun-related incidents, calling the recent developments a worrying trend. The senior public prosecutor overseeing organized crime cases in Berlin, Thorsten Cloidt, emphasized the danger posed by the increasing presence of firearms, particularly the risk to bystanders who may be drawn into conflicts they have nothing to do with. Cloidt believes that the proliferation of guns in Berlin has made it more likely for innocent people to be injured in such situations.

The shooting incidents attributed to this surge stem from various sources, including disputes escalating out of control, family conflicts, perceived insults, and turf battles within the drug trade. A particular category of concern is extortion targeting Turkish-Kurdish business owners, with their establishments being targeted allegedly by Turkish-Kurdish organized crime figures.

This has prompted the police and prosecutors to establish two dedicated units, named Ferrum and Telum, to tackle the issue. These units have already made significant strides, issuing 68 arrest warrants and opening over 600 investigations since their inception.

However, the process of bringing these cases to court has been slow. Roughly nine months after Ferrum’s launch, the unit has only managed to secure a few convictions, while Telum has only filed charges in eleven out of its 197 case files. Cloidt has described the situation as a marathon, prioritizing the removal of individuals from the criminal underworld while also attempting to understand the broader criminal structures at play.

One concerning trend that Cloidt has noticed is the increasing involvement of younger individuals in this criminal world. Many of these people are reportedly recruited online, with little concern for the consequences of their actions. This shift in demographics is especially troubling, as it suggests that the problems associated with gun violence may become more entrenched in the future.

In terms of gun ownership, Berlin has experienced a 68 percent increase in incidents involving firearms in 2025 compared to the previous year, according to the Berlin police. While this increase may be partly due to stricter recording systems, it is clear that the national trend also shows an upward trajectory in firearm-related offenses. Nationwide, threats made with firearms have risen by 12.7 percent last year, reaching 5,281 cases, while actual shootings declined by 8.7 percent to 4,360 cases.

The supply of illegal firearms remains a critical issue, with experts suggesting that the more firearms are circulating illegally, the more likely conflicts will escalate and the more severe the consequences will be. Most of the seized pistols in Berlin trace back to illegal factories, primarily in the Czech Republic and Turkey.

Recent discoveries have uncovered a German-Turkish gang involved in converting blank-firing guns into functional weapons and selling them on the black market. Cloidt acknowledges the challenge in controlling this supply chain and credits recent staffing increases as a crucial factor in applying pressure against these illicit networks.

However, he remains cautious about the timeline for achieving a significant reduction in gun-related violence.