On March 6, 1981, in Lübeck, Germany, Marianne Bachmeier walked into a courtroom and shot Klaus Grabowski, the man accused of kidnapping, abusing, and killing her 7-year-old daughter, Anna Bachmeier. He died on the spot after being hit by multiple bullets.
Anna had been murdered in 1980 after being kidnapped and held for hours. During the trial, Grabowski denied abuse and blamed the child, which pushed Marianne into rage and despair. On the third day of the trial, she smuggled a gun into court and carried out the shooting.
She was arrested immediately and later convicted of manslaughter, receiving a six-year sentence but serving only three. Her case shocked the world and divided public opinion—some saw her as a grieving mother seeking justice, others as a vigilante who took the law into her own hands.
Marianne died in 1996, but her story remains one of the most controversial cases of revenge and justice in modern history.