The knife attacker, who seriously injured four men in an ICE from Regensburg to Nuremberg at the beginning of November, may have had an extremist motive. As announced by the Munich Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Bavarian Central Office for Combating Extremism and Terrorism (ZET) has taken over the investigation. The Nuremberg-Fürth public prosecutor’s office, which was previously responsible for the case, worked closely with ZET from the start, according to a press release.
Initially, however, the investigators assumed that the man was acting madly and possibly not guilty at the time of the crime, but also pointed out that the questioning of relatives and acquaintances of the attacker and searches were still ongoing.
In the course of this investigation, indications of an Islamist motive have now been found. This was shown by an evaluation of the data carriers seized from the man, according to the attorney general. This is indicated by content on his Facebook account as well as propaganda videos of the terrorist organization “Islamic State” found on him.
On November 6th, the 27-year-old Syrian stabbed passengers in an ICE completely suddenly and apparently indiscriminately with a knife. Without further resistance, he allowed himself to be arrested by the police. Police officers and passengers had noticed mental disorders in the man. He is said to have shouted shortly before the crime: “I’m sick, I need help!” The man was therefore examined on the day of the crime by a psychiatric expert on the instructions of the public prosecutor, according to which he may suffer from paranoid schizophrenia with delusional ideas. He has been treated at the Regensburg District Hospital since the act.
The psychiatric report is preliminary. Whether the man is actually mentally ill and at the time of the crime incapable of guilt or limited culpability has yet to be clarified. Likewise, what role the new evidence of Islamist extremism played in the act. It will continue to investigate in all directions, so the Attorney General.