Home » News » Aachen – Several travelers injured with a knife: train assassin admitted to psychiatry | Regional

Aachen – Several travelers injured with a knife: train assassin admitted to psychiatry | Regional

Von: Charlotte Breidohr, Joachim OFFERMANN, Frank Schneider and Nina Stampflmeier

Aachen (NRW) – The knife attacker (31) from a regional train near Aachen has been admitted to a psychiatric clinic. The public prosecutor’s office in Aachen announced on Saturday that three cases were being investigated on suspicion of dangerous bodily harm and attempted insidious murder.

The Iraqi native stabbed train passengers with a kitchen knife on Friday morning. Six people were injured, including the perpetrator himself.

A federal police officer (60) in civilian clothes witnessed the knife attack on the train on the way to work and overpowered the attacker with two other passengers

Foto: Patric Fouad

According to the current state of knowledge, the cause is very likely to be a psychotic experience on the part of the accused, emphasized the public prosecutor’s office.

There were no indications of a terrorist background or religious radicalization of the suspect.

This is how the sudden attack went

The investigators’ findings so far give an idea of ​​the dramatic moments on Friday morning on the train. The regional express 4 from Düsseldorf to Aachen had just left the train station in Herzogenrath when the native Iraqi jumped up from his seat at 7.38 a.m. He pressed the door opener, wanted to get off the train.

The public prosecutor’s office on Saturday: “After he was unable to do this, he suddenly hit a fellow passenger in the face with his fist. The accused then pulled out a kitchen knife and stabbed aimlessly around himself and then several times with the knife against the head area of ​​various witnesses.

In this regional train, the perpetrator suddenly attacked other travelers

In this regional train, the perpetrator suddenly attacked other travelers

Photo: dmp-press / Roeger Ralf

Although himself injured in the attack, a Nigerian passenger brought the attacker to the ground and disarmed him. Other witnesses rushed to help, including a plainclothes federal police officer (60) who was on his way to work. Together they held the defending man in check until the alarmed police arrived.

NRW Interior Minister Herbert Reul (69, CDU) said on Friday that it was “a cruel act that could be stopped in an act of enormous courage”.

The five victims of the knife stabber suffered cuts and stab wounds, there was no danger to life.

A spokeswoman for the public prosecutor’s office said on Friday that there were indications that the man’s criminal responsibility was in question. A psychiatrist should therefore take a closer look at him.

After the fact, the investigators had not ruled out a terrorist background. In 2017, the refugee was still considered a so-called “Islamism test case”. Reason: The refugee home in Krefeld, where he lived at the time, reported him after the man had changed a lot. Among other things, he grew a beard and isolated himself.

According to information from the Rheinische Post, the stabber was known to the authorities under ten different names.

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.