Duisburg
Investigators assume random victims are attacked
The police take the suspect away. photo
© Christoph Reichwein/dpa
Why did the perpetrator attack several people with a knife in the gym? The investigators are moving away from the initial thesis of a targeted attack and are now assuming four random victims.
A week after the bloody knife attack in a Duisburg gym that left four people seriously injured, the public prosecutor sees signs of a shooting instead of a targeted attack. “We tend to assume that all four are accidental victims,” prosecutor Jill McCuller told the German Press Agency on Tuesday.
This results in particular from information provided by the injured party, according to which none of them knew the alleged perpetrator. At first it was assumed that the attack was aimed at a person.
“Amok sounds so bad. Ultimately, it’s the random selection of victims without specific reasons,” said the prosecutor. The news magazine “Der Spiegel” had previously reported that there were now some indications of an amok attack. According to the information available on Monday, one of the four seriously injured victims of the attack, a 21-year-old, was still in mortal danger.
Suspect in custody remains silent
After the attack on Tuesday evening last week, a 26-year-old Syrian suspect is in custody. The charges are attempted murder and dangerous bodily harm. In the attack, the suspect is said to have seriously injured four people with a knife. The accused has not yet commented on the allegations, the prosecutor said.
Special police units arrested the suspect on Sunday night after information from two acquaintances of the man in his Duisburg apartment near the crime scene. Two knives were seized, which investigators believe may be the murder weapon. According to the public prosecutor, one of the knives – the possible murder weapon – has a 20 centimeter long blade. The knives would be examined for DNA traces of victims. But that will take time. The police had searched with photos from surveillance cameras.
According to the investigators, the suspect should be examined psychiatrically. According to the authorities, the Syrian applied for asylum in Germany in April 2016. In 2018 he was noticed in two cases of minor property crimes. Both procedures have been discontinued. According to the police, the securing of evidence in the suspect’s apartment continued on Monday.