Background
Events in Kayseri between 1998 and 2001 left the city in fear for a long time. According to press reports, a person moving around the Yıldırım Beyazıt neighbourhood on a red bicycle killed six people and wounded two with a hunting rifle; one of the wounded was a police officer. Because the perpetrator called himself a 'hunter', the press referred to him as the 'Hunter'.
Wide security measures were taken in the city during this period. Sightings of a person on a red bicycle near the scenes became the most important lead of the investigation.
Linking the separate crime scenes and focusing the investigation on a single perpetrator took time, and he was caught only in 2001. Security measures in the city were stepped up during this period.
Arrest and first trial
The perpetrator was caught in 2001. According to the summary, he was sentenced to a long prison term in 2002; the exact combined length of the sentence could not be independently verified here. Despite the length of the sentence, enforcement rules and reductions meant he left prison after about 16 years.
Reports place the release in February 2017. Lawyers quoted in the press said that provisions of the enforcement laws and sentence reductions made the release possible.
The 2018 killing and trial
About a year and a half after his release, in August 2018, a security guard was shot dead in Kayseri. Police tracked the person on a red bicycle seen at and near the scene through security-camera footage. Reports say about 950 hours of footage were reviewed; the suspect was caught on 7 August 2018, and a search of his home turned up the rifle, the bicycle and other items linked to the case.
The Kayseri 1st High Criminal Court handed down an aggravated life sentence on 11 February 2019; press reports mentioned an additional 15-year term.
Legacy
The case became one of the examples most often cited in Turkish debates on the early release of people convicted of serious crimes under enforcement laws. Families and the public questioned how long sentences can in practice shrink to short periods.
This text is written with respect for those who lost their lives. Victims are not named, out of consideration for their relatives' privacy.
The file also showed how modern camera and footage analysis can combine with an old lead: the same bicycle made it possible to trace the perpetrator for a second time, years later.