Zug massacre

The massacre occurred sixteen days after the September 11 attacks in the United States, which killed 2,996 people. In 2001, around 500,000 people in Switzerland possessed firearms as a result of the Swiss Militia System, which requires men over 20 to be ready for a call to service. Despite these figures, the country has relatively low gun-related crime with one gun-related death for every 200,000 people. Switzerland then had a relatively permissive policy when it came to public access to administrative buildings. == Perpetrator ==

Friedrich Heinz "Fritz" Leibacher His father said when he started school it was as if "Satan entered him"; he was first arrested at 13 for publicly shooting a rifle and threatening to kill his own mother. Afterwards, his parents requested he be sent to a reformatory. Following a variety of different diagnoses, Leibacher filed several cases alleging corruption of various public officials, He received notification that the courts had ruled against him just days before the attacks, but never opened the letter. All of the guns and weapons Leibacher owned were legally acquired, and he purchased the pump-action shotgun nine days before the shooting, even though he was under surveillance at the time for threatening the bus driver. Despite making some preparations for escape, such as renting a motor scooter, evidence suggests he intended to die in the attack. The day before the attack, Leibacher wrote a letter to the director of his daughter's school. This letter was written in poor English, and read in part: == Massacre ==

On 27 September 2001, at 10:30a.m., Leibacher arrived at the canton's parliament building () dressed in a homemade police vest As the hall only had one entrance, they were trapped within. and wounded 18 politicians and journalists, some seriously. Towards the end of the attack, he yelled "now, we deal with 'the complaint Leibacher'", revealing his identity. He then shot himself at about 10:34a.m. The shooting lasted for 2 minutes and 34 seconds. The whole shooting was caught on a tape recorder that had been running through the meeting. Leibacher left a suicide note in his car (of which he made 29 copies) titled "" ("", or ). It contained various allegations against the authorities of the canton, denouncing them as a "Mafia judiciary" that had victimized him through "illegal and criminal means". He also left a copy of the letter inside his apartment. Also in the car was another weapon and a motorcycle outfit. The revolver, also acquired legally, was unused. Around his neck was a statement on a cord that stated he declined medical attention, or the usage of his organs for any purpose. He had a blood alcohol content of 0.48–0.58. The police did not fire any shots in responding to the shooting. == Aftermath ==

}}Only two of the seven government councilors were still able to work after the shooting: Director of Economic Affairs Robert Bisig and director of finance . Director of Security and Director of Education and Culture Walter Suter were injured in hospital. At 4 p.m., , who remained uninjured, organized an eleven-member task force, which met under his leadership at 8 a.m. the following morning. Bisig and Schwerzmann, together with the executive secretaries, took over the management of the orphaned departments, and parliamentary business was suspended until the end of November. The task force held six meetings and disbanded on 12 October. On 23 October, the government met for the first time in its new form, and on 29 November, the Cantonal Council also resumed its work, now in the large hall of the Zug police building. Swiss president Moritz Leuenberger ordered the national flag to be flown at half-mast for three days after the incident. The mayor of Zug, Christoph Luchsinger, described the aftermath as "a terrible scene of horror" and the shooting as an "attack on our democracy". After the shooting, the cantonal authorities filed to claim Leibacher's estate, valued at . One of the injured victims was left paralyzed by the attack. That the attack occurred so shortly after 9/11 likely impacted the amount of attention given to it, though substantial attention was. There was an international reaction, with Pope John Paul II saying a prayer for the victims. On 1 October, the official funeral service for the victims was held in the Zug parish church of . 14 candles were lit for the victims of the shooting. Representatives of the Catholic Church, wanting to uphold the idea of forgiveness, wanted to light a 15th candle for Leibacher. The relatives of the victims opposed this. During the service, Bishop Kurt Koch said: "To light a candle for the perpetrator – I can feel it is still too early for many." He handed the 15th candle to the regional dean of Zug, who lit it a year later together with a Reformed colleague. Many of Leibacher's final actions have been viewed as an example of attacker "final warning" behavior. Leibacher was said by the official report to be fully aware of and responsible for his actions, though afflicted with a personality disorder. == Legacy ==

The shooting was the first time a Swiss politician was killed since the 19th century. After the shooting, the furniture in the room where the attack occurred was burned and the layout of the room was redesigned. The canton initially wanted to destroy the building altogether, but this was decided against. On 30 August 2004, a memorial for the shooting was unveiled in Zug, designed by Zug artist Caroline Flueler. The memorial has a green glass plate embedded into the floor, with 14 points of light, representing the 14 victims. During the ten years until his retirement in September 2011, Timo Jorio and his wife Ruth, as well as Landesweibel, accompanied the relatives of those killed and arranged for lawyers to help with legal issues. Jorio used the money from Leibacher's estate to finance part of the victim support. The majority of the compensation came from the state in accordance with the Swiss . Two brothers from Zug developed a conspiracy theory that Leibacher had not killed himself and had actually been killed by the police, and that there was a coverup by the government and media to hide this fact. This idea was spread widely by them across the internet and through posters and flyers. They repeatedly filed complaints against the Zug authorities, accusing them of murder and abetting murder. The Zug government then filed a complaint against the men for false accusations. In 2012, the St. Gallen public prosecutor Beat Fehr closed the case after a long investigation, concluding that the investigation was proper and that the allegations by the two men were unfounded. He also closed the complaint by the government against the men, as they had believed their statements to be true. In 2004, during a National League ice hockey game between EV Zug and SC Bern in Zug, fans of Bern taunted and provoked Zug supporters by displaying a large banner celebrating the massacre, adorned with a skull and crossbones alongside the text "" () written across it. SC Bern released an official apology to Zug supporters on behalf of their fans. Policy changes A commissioned psychiatric analysis of Leibacher after the shooting argued that though his behavior was "very peculiar", all the pieces regarding the danger he presented could not have been put together beforehand. The shooting also led to a change in how people perceived as hostile or uttering threats were handled by several cantons. The public prosecution office now assigns a case manager to such people to assess the violence risk by gathering all known information, and such individuals are tracked in databases. The referendum was rejected by 56.3% of voters. Instead of gun control, the security of buildings deflected the focus and most of the public attention was on that issue instead. The idea of changing the free access to buildings resulted in criticism, as some believed this would damage the transparency between politicians and the public. Despite this, widespread security changes were enacted. Many local parliaments increased security or installed security measures around and inside of their buildings. Some established a strict access control for visitors and security passes for the politicians and staff. == See also ==