Arrest in Air Gun Shooting Near Pope’s Mass in Germany

[rug]

By JUDY DEMPSEY
Published: September 24, 2011

BERLIN — The German police said Saturday that they had arrested a man suspected of shooting a security guard with an air gun in the eastern city of Erfurt shortly before Pope Benedict XVI was about to celebrate Mass.

But the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said there was “no worry” for the papal entourage. The episode occurred close to the zone established to protect the pope and carry out security checks on the pilgrims.

Thousands of pilgrims had already lined up during the early hours of the cold morning to get as close as possible to the pope.

A local police spokesman said the man was arrested in his apartment in Erfurt, from where the shots were fired, Agence France-Presse reported. The shots were fired about two hours before Benedict, 84, began celebrating Mass before 30,000 people. No one was injured.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/25/world/europe/man-arrested-in-air-gun-shooting-in-city-where-pope-holds-mass.html?_r=1

A couple of other interesting items in the story.