31-year-old in psychiatric hospital after being attacked by a knife on the train
Created: 05/14/2022Updated: 05/14/2022 15:04
Two police patrol cars are parked at the side of the road.
© Philipp von Ditfurth/dpa/symbol image
On a train near Aachen, a 31-year-old man suddenly pulls out a knife and stabs fellow passengers.
According to previous knowledge, his act was based on a "psychotic experience", say the investigators - it was probably not a terrorist attack.
Herzogenrath – The 31-year-old man who suddenly stabbed several fellow passengers on a regional train in Herzogenrath near Aachen on Friday morning is being admitted to a psychiatric clinic for the time being.
The public prosecutor's office emphasized on Saturday that there was no evidence of a terrorist background or religious radicalization of the suspect.
On the contrary, according to the current state of knowledge, it is very likely that the suspect was suffering from psychosis.
The 31-year-old is Iraqi and came to Germany as a refugee in 2015.
According to a tip from the refugee home where he was living at the time, he was temporarily classified as a "test case of Islamism" in 2017.
In the facility, it was noticed that he had increasingly isolated himself and suddenly had a long beard, according to security circles.
However, the suspicion was not confirmed.
As a recognized refugee, the man has a temporary residence permit, sources said.
In the local train from Düsseldorf to Aachen, the man suddenly jumped up on Friday at around 7:38 a.m. shortly after the train had continued in Herzogenrath and tried to open the door, the public prosecutor reported.
When that was impossible, he punched a fellow passenger in the face and then pulled out a kitchen knife.
First he aimlessly and then purposefully stabbed several fellow passengers.
In the end, five people and the attacker himself were injured.
A fellow passenger - supported by other people, including a federal police officer - overpowered and disarmed the 31-year-old.
The public prosecutor announced that three cases were being investigated on suspicion of dangerous bodily harm and attempted insidious murder.
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When registering with the authorities, the Iraqi stated that he was a Shia Muslim.
At the time of the crime, 270 people were on the train.
dpa