New Year, Familiar Routine in Berlin’s Neukölln Neighborhood Turns into Chaos
In the early evening of the first Monday of the year, a shooting incident occurred in the Britz district of Berlin’s Neukölln neighborhood. The perpetrator is still at large, and no reports of injuries have been made public yet. The police arrested two members of the Abou-Chaker clan, a family known to the justice system, at the scene.
Residents reported hearing shots on the weekend, and an investigation revealed that a man allegedly fired a weapon into a crowd and then fled the scene. According to Berlin’s Zeitung, the investigators are now examining whether the incident was a dispute among clan members.
The T-online portal reported rumors that influential members of the Abou-Chaker family were seen in a Mercedes near the crime scene in Britz. The police, prompted by these tips, arrested Arafat Abou-Chaker and his brother Nasser, as well as other individuals, and took them to the Buschkrugallee for questioning. Verbal altercations ensued, but were calmed by the presence of the police dog unit.
During the searches of the vehicles, the police found a machete and several weapons, according to the B.Z.
The suspected shooter remains at large, and a swift manhunt did not yield the desired results, according to the Berliner Zeitung. The police secured a firearm at an auto shop near the crime scene, which is believed to be a deadly weapon. Criminology experts collected several spent shell casings at the scene of the crime.
Due to the tense situation, the police had to bring in additional forces as the parties involved began to escalate their disputes. The reason for the shooting remains unknown.
This incident marks the latest in a long string of violent crimes linked to the Abou-Chaker clan, which has been a thorn in the side of Berlin’s law enforcement for years. The last reported murder linked to the clan was in November of the previous year, when a 31-year-old man was shot on the street in the Kreuzberg district, with connections to the musician and chart-topper Capital Bra.
In October 2024, the Bild-Zeitung reported that Capital Bra had been hunted by the clans for years, and the HipHop.de website published an article titled “‘Fear for my life’ – Capital Bra’s statements on the clan conflict resurfaced”.