At about five o’clock in the morning on January 4, 1965, a man, approximately 25 years old, succeeded in fleeing not far from Ruppiner Strasse. He had a wire cutter with him, as well as a rope ladder and a heaving line, when he entered the border area unnoticed. The border guards did not detect him until he set off the alarm on the signal fence. They opened fire, but the fugitive had taken cover behind a screen and was not hit. He managed to climb over the Wall to West Berlin unharmed. A number of bullets, however, flew into West Berlin territory. Some entered the bedroom of a resident who was asleep in bed at the time.