The man who seriously injured several people in an ICE on Saturday morning with a knife on the way from Regensburg to Nuremberg was possibly not at fault at the time of the crime. It is still being investigated, but there is currently “no evidence of an Islamist or terrorist background,” said Sabine Nagel, criminal director of the Upper Palatinate criminal police on Sunday. Several relatives of the perpetrator were interrogated, there were searches in Bavaria, Thuringia and North Rhine-Westphalia. At the moment there is nothing to suggest that there are accomplices, accomplices or helpers.
Rather, according to investigators, there are indications of a mental disorder in the 27-year-old Syrian, which could have played a role in the crime. The police officers who were on duty on the train noticed “psychological abnormalities in the suspect,” said Gerhard Neuhof from the Nuremberg-Fürth public prosecutor’s office. In addition, according to witnesses, shortly before the act, “I’m sick, I need help!” have called. The man was examined by a psychiatric expert on the instructions of the prosecutor’s office on Saturday, according to which he may suffer from paranoid schizophrenia with delusional ideas. According to Neuhof, he said that he felt persecuted by the police and that they wanted to drive him crazy. He is said to have believed that his first victim, a 26-year-old passenger, wanted to kill him. According to his own statements, he committed the other acts as if in a dream. He did not deny the deeds.
He stabbed passengers at random
He is accused of attempted murder, attempted manslaughter, and dangerous and willful bodily harm. Since the 27-year-old was possibly not at fault at the time, the public prosecutor applied for placement in a psychiatric hospital. He is now being treated in the Regensburg District Hospital.
Shortly before nine o’clock on Saturday morning, the first emergency call from the ICE 928 from Passau to Hamburg was received by the police: A man was attacking passengers with a knife. At this time, the train was on the route between Regensburg and Seubersdorf with 208 passengers on board, as the Vice President of the Upper Palatinate Police Headquarters, Thomas Schöniger, reported. In car 5 and 4, he apparently attacked people at random, first a 26-year-old, whom he severely injured with knife stabs on the head and upper body, then he attacked two 60-year-olds. Then he changed the car. There he stabbed a 39-year-old. The two younger men are still in the hospital.
Rescue workers stand in front of a restaurant in which the train travelers were briefly accommodated.
(Photo: dpa)
The ICE stopped in Seubersdorf, police officers at gunpoint stormed the train and, according to Schöniger, were able to arrest the attacker without further fighting. They found the alleged murder weapon on him, a blood-smeared jackknife with a three-inch blade.
The Syrian lived and worked in Passau
The act sparked memories of the ax attack on a regional train near Würzburg, in which a 17-year-old refugee seriously injured five people in July 2016; the perpetrator was shot dead by the police at the time. The attack is rated as an Islamist terrorist act, as relevant evidence was found.
So far, however, there are no indications of radicalization or planning in the case in Seubersdorf. It is known about the perpetrator that he is a Syrian citizen and entered Germany in 2014. He is a recognized refugee, lived and worked in Passau. The day before the crime, he had lost his job, according to Kripo. According to Nagel, he only appeared on the police force “because of a minor fraud”.