Gardener With Grudges May Have Killed From Beyond Grave

German police say he may have left behind bombs
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 6, 2019 1:41 PM CST
Gardener With Grudges Might Have Left Bombs Behind: Police
Items are left outside the house of a doctor killed by a bombing in southwest Germany.   (Oliver Dietze/dpa via AP)

Police in southwest Germany are warning anyone who clashed with a gardener who died last week that he may have left booby traps behind. A physician was killed Friday, and a woman and her daughter were injured Sunday in bombings in neighboring villages; police say gardener Bernhard Graumann had conflicts with both the doctor and the woman and is suspected of planting the bombs. A homemade bomb left outside his office killed the doctor. Later that day, Graumann was found dead at his home when police raided it, and police suspect he poisoned himself, the Independent reports. The woman and her 4-year-old daughter, who are both expected to recover, were hurt by glass splinters when a log rigged with explosives that the mother had put in the stove blew the door, the AP reports. It had been left in the family's pile of firewood.

Police say they found gunpowder and other items prohibited by explosives laws in the house, per the BBC. Graumann could have learned about explosives through a group he belonged to that re-enacts medieval wars, officials said, using gunpowder and pyrotechnics. "He always went to medieval festivals," an acquaintance told RTL television, and "had a knight's armor." Fearing that Graumann, 59, may have held grudges against other people and left explosives behind to target them, police set up a hotline. "People who have had a problematic private or business relationship with Graumann are urged to contact the police immediately," police said. The line had logged more than 60 calls by Wednesday morning, the Independent reports. (More Germany stories.)

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