As of: 01/26/2023 6:29 p.m
On Wednesday, a man attacked other passengers with a knife on a train from Kiel to Hamburg. A 17-year-old and her 19-year-old friend were killed. An arrest warrant has now been issued for the alleged perpetrator.
On Thursday afternoon, the 33-year-old Ibrahim A. was brought before the judge in front of the Itzehoe district court (Steinburg district). “We are conducting proceedings for two treacherous murders and four cases of attempted manslaughter,” confirmed senior public prosecutor Peter Müller-Rackow. The Itzehoe district court issued an arrest warrant because of the seriousness of the accusation and the suspect’s risk of absconding. According to Müller-Rackow, the man is now being held in custody in Itzehoe prison.
Two dead and five injured
There is now talk of a total of five injured people – a 17-year-old woman and her 19-year-old friend died in the attack near Brokstedt. According to Education Minister Karin Prien (CDU), the two fatalities went to school in Neumünster. “Two young people lost their lives and five other people were injured. That affects me deeply,” said Interior Minister Sütterlin-Waack (CDU) on Thursday afternoon at a press conference in Kiel. According to the minister, two of the injured suffered life-threatening injuries and the other three people seriously. Three people are currently in the hospital.
According to Sütterlin-Waack, the alleged perpetrator was also slightly injured when the police arrested him on Wednesday. The man is said not to have resisted. He was treated and is currently in police custody. “There are still no results of an interrogation,” said the interior minister. Therefore, no statement can be made about possible motives.
A few hours before the crime, the man had applied to the authorities in Kiel for a residence card yesterday, but he behaved completely inconspicuously, according to City Councilor Christian Zierau. It is still unclear what exactly happened during the knife attack on the regional train.
Mourners laid flowers and lit candles on the platform of Borkstedt station.
Mourning flowers and candles were laid at Brokstedt station. Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) and Schleswig-Holstein Prime Minister Daniel Günther (CDU) also visited the track in question on Thursday afternoon to commemorate the victims of the bloody crime.
Perpetrator had a criminal record – but not “enforceable obligation to leave the country”
According to current information from the interior minister, the perpetrator’s name is Ibrahim A. “He is a 33-year-old, stateless Palestinian,” Sütterlin-Waack continued. Ibrahim A. is said to have been registered in Kiel from July to November 2021, which is why he is also listed with the immigration office in Kiel. “There are no police criminal files on him in Schleswig-Holstein,” said the minister. However, the police had two reports – one for a dispute and one for shoplifting.
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However, the knife attacker had already committed criminal offenses in North Rhine-Westphalia and Hamburg since entering the country in 2014 – among other things because of acts of violence. He was only released from Hamburg JVA Billwerder on January 19, 2023. He was there for dangerous bodily harm, the minister said.
According to Katja Ralfs from the immigration department of the Schleswig-Holstein Ministry of Social Affairs, deporting the man was out of the question – the person concerned should have been “enforceably obliged to leave the country”. According to the current status, however, this was not the case, Ralfs continued.
Knife attack on homeless people
The previous crime is said to have been a knife attack. In January 2022, the man seriously injured another man with a knife in front of a food distribution for the homeless. His verdict was not yet final, but since the man had already been in prison for a year, the Hamburg Regional Court decided last week to release him. It was the first conviction.
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According to dpa information, the man was registered in Euskirchen in North Rhine-Westphalia for several years and was repeatedly conspicuous for various criminal offenses. According to senior public prosecutor Carsten Ohlrogge, it was, among other things, a narcotics offense, physical injury and the aforesaid serious physical injury, but he was not an intensive offender. According to Ohlrogge, he was not a sex offender, as various media reported. The alleged perpetrator is said to be a stateless Palestinian.
Mourning flags arranged in Schleswig-Holstein
After the fatal knife attack on the regional train from Kiel to Hamburg, the Schleswig-Holstein state government ordered mourning flags to be displayed. “Schleswig-Holstein is mourning. It’s a terrible day. It’s terrible what happened there,” said Prime Minister Daniel Günther (CDU). The prime minister expressed his condolences to the families of the victims last night. “My thoughts and prayers are with the people and their families in this really difficult situation,” he said. Now it should be cleared up as soon as possible.
VIDEO: Sütterlin-Waack comments on the victims of the knife attack (1 min)
Today’s state parliament session was also marked by the attack. Eka von Kalben (Greens), Vice President of the State Parliament, gave a speech, followed by a minute’s silence. Kalben also emphasized that the thoughts are with the victims and their families. She also expressed her respect for the first responders who had opposed the perpetrator. “Their courage and determination, their selflessness and their level-headedness deserve the utmost respect,” she said. Schleswig-Holstein’s Interior Minister Sabine Sütterlin-Waack (CDU) also thanked all the helpers and emergency services. In Brokstedt, the willingness to help was great: helpers quickly prepared a room in the community center. There, people who had been on the train were given blankets and warm drinks
The perpetrator will be brought before the magistrate today
The alleged perpetrator was first taken to a hospital after the arrest in Brokstedt, but according to the police is no longer receiving medical treatment, but in custody. Chief Public Prosecutor Peter Müller-Rackow said in the morning that the man would be brought before the magistrate before the Itzehoe District Court today. Nothing is known about the motive for the crime, but according to the public prosecutor’s office, a terrorist background can be ruled out.
120 passengers during train knife attack
There were 120 people on the train during the attack, one of them was Christoph B. “I was in first class and the people who were sitting with me all ran out. Then I ran out. And there were traces of blood everywhere, all of them Train along,” he told NDR Schleswig-Holstein on Wednesday. Michael K. was called by his daughter who was on the train. “My daughter called me at home and wrote that they had to get off the train because someone ran amok and stabbed people indiscriminately,” he said.
AUDIO: Train passenger: “There were traces of blood everywhere” (3 min)
Investigations are ongoing – witnesses and help lines set up
Some passengers alerted the police with their cell phones, while other passengers held the suspected attacker on the train. He was later arrested by the police in Brokstedt. According to the police, there was no video surveillance in the regional train. The police are therefore asking all passengers who have not yet spoken to the investigators, as well as other witnesses, to call 04821/602 2002. There is also a help line on 0800/000 75 54.
When asked whether the act could not have been prevented, Schleswig-Holstein’s interior minister said: “Of course, that is also a question that is decided within the framework of the judiciary. And there are very competent people who think about exactly whether there still needs to be care after imprisonment. And obviously in this case they said: He has served his sentence. That’s how it is in our legal system.”
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