This report addresses incidents of violence that may be distressing. We invite readers to approach the content with care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Introduction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
On 30 August 2021, Roger Michael Wilhelm, 37, was shot and killed by a police officer at the railway station of Morges, a municipality in the Canton of Vaud, Switzerland. A Black Swiss and South African man born and raised in Zurich, Roger chose to go by the name Nzoy from an early age \u2013 reflecting his close ties to his family\u2019s cultural heritage. His close ones describe him as a writer, a musician and a practising Christian. While he proudly identified as a Black man, being Black in Switzerland exposed Nzoy to racial discrimination, including racial profiling by the police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nzoy had been briefly hospitalised less than a week before his death with suspected paranoid schizophrenia. The morning of his death, he presented himself to the Emergency Department at the University of Zurich Hospital during a suspected psychotic episode. After an initial neurological assessment, which identified the need for further examination but did not determine that he was a risk to himself or others, Nzoy left the hospital independently. Later that day, for reasons that are still unclear, he boarded a train in Zurich for Geneva where he arrived at 15:47. He then took a train in the opposite direction and got off in Morges at 16:41.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At Morges station, railway workers reported seeing Nzoy praying on a loading platform and crossing train tracks. According to his close friends and family, praying was a way for Nzoy to regain balance in situations of distress. Two railway workers first came into contact with him, talking to him, trying to calm him down, to prevent him from walking on the tracks, asking him \u201cnot to act crazy\u201d. One of them called the police at the same time. A first police patrol arrived at the request of a police dispatcher \u2013 composed of police officer 1 (PO1) and police officer 2 (PO2) \u2013 at 17:58. Then, moments later, a second patrol intervened spontaneously \u2013 composed of police officer 3 (PO3) and police officer 4 (PO4). When the second patrol arrived, the four police officers semi-circled him and the situation escalated within seconds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since a train had to be held at the station platform due to the unfolding events, several passengers as well as local inhabitants witnessed and filmed the scene. Witnesses\u2019 videos show Nzoy moving away from Patrol 1, stepping from the tracks onto the platform and running in a westward direction, from where Patrol 2 was approaching. Facing him, PO4 shot twice, with one bullet most likely grazing the back of Nzoy\u2019s right hand and another striking him in the left groin. Nzoy fell down and rolled as he hit the ground. He stood up again, resumed running, and was shot by PO4 a third and final time with a bullet most likely striking him on the left flank.1<\/a><\/sup>The medical forensic report commissioned by the public prosecutor and conducted by the University Center of Legal Medicine Lausanne-Geneva, noted three wounds but did not clarify the chronology of the shots despite numbering the wounds from 1 to 3. The report states that wound 1 is intra-abdominal, with an entry point on the left flank and a projectile found in the right internal oblique muscle. Wound 2 is located on the left inguinal region and a projectile lodged in the left acetabulum. Wound 3 is on the back of Nzoy\u2019s right hand, suggesting a firearm projectile injury of a tangential nature. Case file, 5004, p. 47<\/span> At 17:59, Nzoy collapsed to the ground, and never rose again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Immediately after the shooting, PO3 informed via radio that shots had been fired. When the dispatcher requested additional information, PO3 responded: \u201cI don\u2019t have more information, a man of colour, he is on the ground.\u201d2<\/a><\/sup>\u201cJ\u2019ai pas plus d\u2019infos, un homme de couleur, il est au sol\u201d Case file, 1020.<\/span> During the six minutes that elapsed after the shots, while Nzoy was lying face down on the platform, the police officers handcuffed him behind his back, then put him on his side to search him. They did not enquire into his health nor did they conduct first-aid measures. After six minutes, an off-duty nurse who witnessed the scene intervened spontaneously to provide emergency care, followed by the arrival of emergency services. Nzoy\u2019s death was declared at 18:31, on the platform, in the train station of Morges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n About an hour after the events, local media outlets began publishing videos of the events along with information obtained from witnesses\u2019 testimonies and a press release from the Vaud Cantonal Police.3<\/a><\/sup>20 Minutes, \u201cLa police fait feu \u00e0 plusieurs reprises, un homme meurt sur le quai,\u201d 20 minutes<\/em>, August 30, 2021, https:\/\/www.20min.ch\/fr\/story\/la-police-fait-feu-sur-un-homme-a-la-gare-de-morges-380390384863<\/a>.<\/span> The first press statement disclosed that two police patrols intervened at Morges station to respond to a \u201cdisturbed\u201d individual. It further stated that, threatened by the individual armed with a knife, an officer from the Morges Regional Police used his firearm and, despite receiving care from the police officers and then from paramedics, the person died at the scene.4<\/a><\/sup>\u00c9tat de Vaud, \u201cMorges\u202f: un homme mortellement bless\u00e9 par la police,\u201d September 1, 2021, https:\/\/www.vd.ch\/actualites\/actualite\/news\/14888i-morges-un-homme-mortellement-blesse-par-la-police<\/a>.<\/span> Two days after the events, another press statement was released. It gave additional information about the knife discovered at the scene, added that the person was already known to the Zurich police and corrected the initial statement by specifying that the first resuscitation effort was made by a nurse present at the scene rather than the police officers.5<\/a><\/sup>\u00c9tat de Vaud, \u201cMorges\u202f: l\u2019homme mortellement bless\u00e9 par la police formellement identifi\u00e9,\u201d September 1, 2021, https:\/\/www.vd.ch\/actualites\/actualite\/news\/14892i-morges-lhomme-mortellement-blesse-par-la-police-formellement-identifie.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Though the criminal investigation had only just begun, the tone of these press statements was already conclusive. Their description of the events legitimised the fatal shooting carried out by PO4 through the assertion that he was acting in self-defence while threatened with a knife by a mentally unstable person who was known to the police. This narrative was widely spread by the media and supported by the Morges police.6<\/a><\/sup>Antoine H\u00fcrlimann, \u201cL\u2019homme abattu \u00e0 Morges se ruait sur les policiers,\u201d Suisse, Blick<\/em>, September 1, 2021, https:\/\/www.blick.ch\/fr\/suisse\/une-video-exclusive-le-montre-lhomme-abattu-par-la-police-a-morges-se-ruait-sur-les-agents-id16796148.html<\/a>; 20 Minutes, \u201cCoups de feu en gare de Morges (VD) – La version de la police confirme celle des t\u00e9moins,\u201d 20 minutes<\/em>, September 1, 2021, https:\/\/www.20min.ch\/fr\/story\/homme-tue-par-un-policier-trois-balles-ont-ete-tirees-677743935687<\/a>; ArcInfo, \u201cMorges: l\u2019homme d\u00e9c\u00e9d\u00e9 sur les quais de la gare souffrait de troubles psychologiques,\u201d ArcInfo<\/em>, September 1, 2021, https:\/\/www.arcinfo.ch\/suisse\/morges-lhomme-decede-sur-les-quais-de-la-gare-souffrait-de-troubles-psychologiques-1105410<\/a>; Rapha\u00ebl Cand, \u201c\u00abAucun policier ne souhaite vivre \u00e7a\u00bb,\u201d Journal de Morges<\/em>, September 2, 2021, https:\/\/journaldemorges.ch\/actualite\/aucun-policier-ne-souhaite-vivre-ca<\/a><\/span> Four years after the killing of Nzoy, and after two failed attempts from the public prosecutor to close the criminal investigation and abandon the proceedings, Nzoy\u2019s family and close ones continue to oppose this conclusion and argue that Nzoy would not have been treated in such a violent manner had he been white.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the request of Nzoy\u2019s family, Border Forensics, in collaboration with the Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Death of Roger Nzoy Wilhelm (hereinafter \u201cIndependent Commission\u201d),7<\/a><\/sup>The Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Death of Roger Nzoy Wilhelm is a group of experts constituted by Nzoy\u2019s family. It is composed of lawyers, psychologists, physicians, sociologists, political scientists, anthropologists, historians and cultural scientists. They work closely with Nzoy\u2019s family and their lawyer and conduct research and provide expertise on the case to support their demand for truth and justice: https:\/\/www.nzoycommission.org\/en\/wer-wir-sind\/<\/a><\/span> has been conducting a counter-investigation for two years to produce a detailed analysis of the events and answer the following key questions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Combining Border Forensics\u2019 spatial, visual and geostatistical methods with the interdisciplinary expertise of the Independent Commission, we have reconstructed the complex constellation of factors, extending across different spatial and temporal scales, that culminated in Nzoy\u2019s death. Our counter-investigation reveals fundamental new insights into the events at Morges station, which challenge the findings of and narrative constructed by the criminal investigation. In particular, we demonstrate that Nzoy did not constitute a threat to others and that his shooting was illegitimate.<\/strong> Beyond the case of Nzoy, our report also offers novel insights into police-related deaths in Switzerland \u2013 a category we define as including any interaction with law enforcement agents resulting in a civilian\u2019s death. We demonstrate that police-related deaths disproportionately impact people \u2013 mostly men \u2013 subjected to processes of othering, in particular racialisation. Finally, our analysis indicates that a regime of impunity for police-related deaths has consolidated<\/strong>. As a result, truth and justice are denied to victims and their families and the perpetuation of violent police practices is enabled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To answer our four key questions outlined above, the report is organised into four main chapters, structured by two analytical levels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The first level focuses on the event<\/strong> of Nzoy\u2019s killing and examines: (1) the evidence concerning the (in)actions of the actors on site that led to Nzoy\u2019s death; and (2) the deficiencies and evidentiary gaps in the criminal investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The second analytical level locates the case of Nzoy\u2019s killing in relation to similar incidents, and analyses the structural conditions <\/strong>that have enabled them. In particular, we focus on: (3) the longer history and broader structures of racism and police-related deaths in Switzerland; and (4) the legal, political and media frameworks that undermine demands for truth and justice and allow for violence to be perpetuated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chapter 1<\/strong> provides a detailed analysis of the circumstances and the (in)actions of all actors who interacted with Nzoy at the Morges train station on 30 August 2021, ultimately causing Nzoy\u2019s death. By cross-referencing evidence contained in the case file to which Nzoy\u2019s family gave us access, in particular videos filmed by witnesses, police radio recordings and transcripts of police hearings, we establish a precise reconstruction of the sequence of events in space and time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.borderforensics.org\/app\/uploads\/2025\/08\/INT_001.png\")
<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/a>Report outline<\/h3>\n\n\n\n