The Mother Who Fired Seven Shots for Her Daughter: The Story of Marianne Bachmeier

This is the story of Marianne Bachmeier, a mother whose grief and love led her to take a stand in the most heartbreaking way imaginable.

Her daughter, Anna, was just seven years old when her life was stolen in the most brutal of circumstances. The man who took her—Klaus Grabowski, a repeat offender and convicted predator the system had already failed to stop—sat in a courtroom, smirking as he prepared to defend himself. And then, he said something no mother should ever hear: that the child he murdered had “seduced” him.

A seven-year-old.

For Marianne, it was more than just the loss of her child—it was the loss of everything that gave her life meaning. Her light. Her purpose. Her future. And now, this man, the one responsible for her daughter’s death, was not only taking his own defense but blaming his victim.

On March 6, 1981, Marianne walked into the courtroom, carrying a small pistol hidden in her bag. At 10 a.m., as Klaus Grabowski stood to testify, she stood as well. Then, in a moment that would etch itself into the annals of history, Marianne fired seven shots.

Six hit him.
He never stood again.

Her hand steady, her heart shattered, Marianne didn’t flee the scene. She didn’t fight. She simply stated, coldly and without remorse:
“I wanted to shoot him in the face… but I shot him in the back.”

The world exploded.

Some hailed her as a hero—a mother who did what the justice system refused to. Others condemned her as a vigilante who took the law into her own hands. But Marianne never apologized. Not once.

In court, when asked for a handwriting sample, she wrote:
“I did it for you, Anna,”
and drew seven hearts—one for each year of her daughter’s life.

Marianne served three years in prison for her actions, but her sentence was never enough to silence the echo of her loss. She never escaped the grief, never truly moved on. In 1996, she died of cancer at the age of 46, in the same city where she had lost everything.

Her story is still debated to this day. Some see her as a tragic hero, others as a misguided soul, but one truth remains undeniable:

A mother’s love can be the most powerful—and devastating—force on earth.