Suche
Mein Konto
Hardware store thief attacks detective with pepper spray and is arrested!
A 20-year-old was arrested in Erlangen after he shoplifted several times and attacked employees with pepper spray.
Hardware store thief attacks detective with pepper spray and is arrested!
A brazen thief is making headlines in the Nuremberg metropolitan region. On August 23, 2025, a 20-year-old man was caught red-handed in a hardware store in Erlangen. He had hidden several items from the sanitary department under his clothing, as Wiesentbote reports. This was another incident that began in the morning of the same day. The young man was noticed when he tried to steal a spray can without paying for it.
Although the store detective observed the situation, the man was not easily caught. When he left the hardware store without paying, he ignored orders to return and instead attacked the store detective. He used animal repellent spray, bit and hit the employee before other customers and employees could intervene and call the police. Ultimately, however, the man was arrested without resistance.
Connections and other actions
As part of the investigation, officers discovered stolen goods both in the suspect's car and where he slept. The total value of the stolen items, which also included a hairdryer from a previous theft in Fürth, is just under 900 euros. In that incident, an employee was also attacked with pepper spray when she tried to stop him, BR added. These repeated attacks are not an isolated incident; According to statistics, 303,000 shoplifting cases were recorded across Germany in 2024.
Since the man has no permanent residence in Germany, he was brought before a judge on August 24, 2025. The decision was clear: he should be in custody while he has to answer for, among other things, robbery. It's a sad example of how far some people are willing to go for a short gain.
Another victim?
The police reported another incident on Saturday in the REWE market in Höchstadt a.d. Aish. A customer's backpack was stolen there and was stuffed into a stroller. The suspected thief, a 30-year-old father, left in a VW Golf, but the police were quickly successful and discovered the backpack and its contents on him.
The incidents shed light on the increasing problem of shoplifting in Germany. In the period from 2014 to 2024, increasing numbers of registered cases were published again and again. The background is often complex and ranges from social conditions to individual decisions. Whether the connection to crime is a one-off event or part of a larger pattern remains to be seen. Society is called upon to actively counteract these developments.
At a time when the issue of security and protection of property is becoming more and more important, one can only hope that preventive measures are constantly being improved.