Published
On Saturday, a 27-year-old attacked passengers indiscriminately on a train in Neumarkt in the Upper Palatinate with a jackknife. According to the first findings of the police, the perpetrator suffers from paranoid schizophrenia.
Previously, the man is said to have attacked several people with a knife in an ICE between Regensburg and Nuremberg.
dpa / Carsten Koall
Four people were injured in the attack; they are out of danger to life.
dpa / Fabian Schreiner
In the knife attack on Saturday, the perpetrator injured four people.
The German police are currently ruling out an Islamist or terrorist motive.
The 27-year-old lost his job the day before; suffered from delusions for a long time.
“I’m sick. I need help.” This is what the man made when he was arrested. Previously, he had attacked fellow travelers in an ICE near Neumarkt in the Upper Palatinate with a knife. Four people were injured in the attack on Saturday, apparently the perpetrator attacked them completely indiscriminately. One day after the bloody act, questions remain unanswered: Why did the 27-year-old stab?
Islamist or terrorist motives are not recognizable, say the investigators on Sunday at a press conference in Neumarkt in the Upper Palatinate. At least there is no evidence so far. According to an expert, the 27-year-old is more likely to suffer from “paranoid schizophrenia” and have delusional ideas. He could be innocent.
“Followed by the police”
After the ICE was unexpectedly stopped in Seubersdorf, the suspect was arrested without resistance. Previously, the perpetrator was prevented from getting on by passengers on the train. The police officers noticed “psychological abnormalities” in him; He was later questioned by a psychiatric expert, according to prosecutors. He told the police that he had been following him for some time.
The police sent men to watch him and oppose him. “That has no real background,” emphasized the Chief Public Prosecutor Gerhard Neuhof. There were no police measures against the man. Because of a “minor fraud” he was known to the police in 2020 and was also convicted.
Attacks committed as if in a dream
The man told the expert that he felt threatened by the first victim. He was of the opinion that this man wanted to kill him. That’s why he attacked him. He had committed the other acts as if in a dream. Based on the expert’s assessment, the public prosecutor’s office assumes that the suspect’s responsibility had been lifted at the time of the offense, says Neuhof.
So far, no indications have emerged that the 27-year-old suspect had accomplices or confidants, says criminal director Sabine Nagel. After the fact, there would have been searches of family members and friends: At the home of the accused in Passau, but also in Marl in North Rhine-Westphalia and Thuringia.
According to the authorities, the 27-year-old has lived continuously in Lower Bavaria since arriving in 2014. His parents and siblings live elsewhere in Germany. The young man, who was born in Damascus, did not have to fear deportation. In 2016 he was recognized as a refugee. Investigators said he lost his job a day before the attack.
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(dpa / bho)