FILE - The Oct. 20, 2016 file photo shows a flag in window of a house where a man shot a police officer in Georgensgmuend, southern Germany. On Monday, oct. 23, 2017 a German court has convicted the anti-government extremist for the fatal shooting. (Daniel Karmann/dpa via AP)
October 23, 2017 - 2:31 AM
BERLIN - A German court has convicted an alleged anti-government extremist of murder and sentenced him to life in prison over the fatal shooting of a police officer as authorities tried to confiscate the defendant's firearms.
News agency dpa reported that the Nuremberg state court convicted the 50-year-old, identified as Wolfgang P. in line with privacy rules, of murder and two counts of attempted murder Monday. Defence lawyers had sought his conviction on a lesser charge of manslaughter.
One officer died and two were wounded after the defendant fired at an armed response unit sent to his home in Georgensgmuend last October to confiscate his weapons.
The defendant is believed to belong to the Reich Citizens Movement, a loose grouping that refuses to acknowledge the authority of Germany's post-war federal republic.
News from © The Associated Press, 2017