Attack in Brokstedt: What is known about the knife attack

The knife attack in a regional train in Schleswig-Holstein with two dead and several injured caused nationwide horror. Much is still unclear, the investigations are ongoing. An overview.

What happened?

According to the federal police, the crime happened on Wednesday shortly before 3 p.m. immediately before the arrival of the regional train at Brokstedt station in the Steinburg district. While the train was moving, passengers were attacked by a man with a stabbing weapon. Several calls came in through 911. About 120 people were sitting in the regional train RE70, which drove from Kiel to Hamburg.

Two people were killed and five others injured. According to the Itzehoe police, witnesses managed to stop the suspect immediately after the crime, until the emergency services arrived at the Brokstedt train station. The attacker himself was moderately injured, temporarily treated in a hospital and then initially taken into police custody.

What is known about the suspect so far?

According to the police, the man is a stateless Palestinian without a permanent address. According to the investigators, he was in a Hamburg correctional facility for a physical injury offense until a week ago. He is said to have previously committed several violent crimes. According to the Itzehoe public prosecutor’s office, the 33-year-old is a multiple offender, but not an intensive offender. He had become conspicuous in North Rhine-Westphalia and Hamburg; According to the investigators, there were no proceedings against the suspect in Schleswig-Holstein.

According to the Schleswig-Holstein Interior Minister Sabine Sütterlin-Waack (CDU), he entered Germany for the first time at the end of 2014 – from which country, the investigators could not say so far. He was granted so-called subsidiary protection in 2017. In November 2021, a procedure to withdraw this protection was initiated. It is not yet known how the process ended.

The suspect was in the Kiel immigration office shortly before the crime on Wednesday. He had applied for a residence card, said Sütterlin-Waack. From there he was sent to the registration office.

What could the motive be?

According to the public prosecutor’s office, there is no terrorist background for the act. “Due to the very dynamic course of the crime, a lot is still unclear,” said State Interior Minister Sütterlin-Waack. The motive of the suspect is still unclear. “There are no results of an interrogation yet, so we can’t say anything about motives.”

So far, 24 witnesses have been questioned and numerous pieces of luggage have been secured, and investigations are also being carried out to search for clues, said the head of the Itzehoe police department, Frank Matthiesen, at the press conference in Kiel.

Where is the alleged perpetrator located?

An arrest warrant has now been issued against the suspect for two counts of treacherous murder and four counts of attempted manslaughter. He was taken into custody. This was announced by a spokesman for the Itzehoe public prosecutor’s office.

What is known about the victims?

The two fatalities are a 17-year-old girl and a 19-year-old man. Both victims knew each other and came from Schleswig-Holstein, said the Itzehoe police department.

Two people suffered life-threatening injuries. You and a third injured victim are still in the hospital, said Interior Minister Sütterlin-Waack in Kiel. Two other injured have already been released from the hospital. The minister corrected the number of injured from seven to five.

What are the political reactions?

“We will clarify all this,” promised Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) during a visit to Brokstedt. Together with Schleswig-Holstein’s Prime Minister Daniel Günther (CDU) and Schleswig-Holstein’s Interior Minister Sütterlin-Waack (CDU), Faeser spoke to emergency services on site. She thanked the forces of the state and federal police, fire brigade and pastoral care, but also praised the great civil society commitment on site.

Prime Minister Günther promised to answer all questions and to put the exchange between the authorities involved to the test “to check whether the crime could have been prevented”.

Sütterlin-Waack expressed her condolences to those affected. Already in the early afternoon she emphasized that it was too early for political conclusions and demands.

How are the investigations progressing?

The Itzehoe murder commission is investigating with the Itzehoe public prosecutor’s office. Witnesses would continue to be questioned, and forensics were still in use, according to the police.

There was no video surveillance on the train where the crime took place. Investigators are asking train occupants who have not yet spoken to police to call the number (04861) 602 20 02 Report to. In addition, the Itzehoe homicide department has a reference portal for anonymous uploading of video, photo and other files via the link sh.zettelportal.de unlocked.