11-year-old boy suspected of killing girl in Germany

MISE À DAY

An 11-year-old boy is suspected of involvement in the death of a 10-year-old girl inside a child and youth protection center in southern Germany , police said on Friday.

The lifeless body of the little girl was found on Tuesday in her room inside this establishment located in Wunsiedel, a small town in Bavaria.

Evidence collected at the crime scene “points to the involvement of an 11-year-old boy” staying at the same center, police and local prosecutors said in a joint statement.

“As the 11-year-old boy is under the age of criminal responsibility, he has been placed in a secure facility as a preventive measure,” they added.

The case comes at a time when the ermany is still reeling from the murder, confessed to by two schoolgirls, aged 12 and 13, of 12-year-old Luise, who was found dead last month in Freudenberg, a city in western Germany, after receiving multiple stab wounds.

Police and prosecutors declined to give further details about Wunsiedel's case, saying only that the boy had not yet been interviewed and that they were coordinating their investigation closely with local youth authorities.

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Bavaria Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann praised investigators for identifying a suspect “in a relatively short time”.

“What is important now is to clarify the exact circumstances of this tragedy,” he noted.

The Wunsiedel Child and Youth Welfare Centre, which houses around 90 children and adolescents, has said “deeply shocked” by the girl’s death.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the parents, family, our children and our colleagues,” he continued in a press release.

On its website, this establishment describes itself as supporting “young people and their families who need help with their education”.