Stabbing attack

Perpetrator (43) only recently arrived in Switzerland

The suspected attacker in Switzerland was arrested after around two hours (symbolic image).

(Bild: Anela R/peopleimages.com - stock.adobe.com (Symbolbild))

Following the stabbing attack in Switzerland on Wednesday, the first details of the suspected perpetrator have been published. The 43-year-old Spaniard probably only entered the country a few days ago, according to the public prosecutor's office of the canton of Aargau.

According to Swiss media reports, he submitted an application for asylum on Monday, but withdrew it just one day later. According to the public prosecutor's office, there are no indications of a terrorist background. The man was behaving in a mentally abnormal manner.

As reported, the Spaniard had injured six people and himself with a stabbing weapon in the small town of Zofingen on Wednesday afternoon. The police received an emergency call that a man was stabbing passers-by indiscriminately. He was initially at the train station and then moved in the direction of an education center.

Here you can see a tweet from the Aargau police.

Attacker arrested after two hours
"We had class and suddenly the door to the room opened and a teacher came in to warn us. She said that she had been attacked," an 18-year-old pupil told the Blick newspaper. The woman had a wound on her neck. Security and rescue services were quickly on the scene after the emergency call to treat the injured and cordon off the area around the station. A school was temporarily evacuated.

The suspected attacker was still holed up in a building, but was arrested after around two hours. He himself was also injured and was treated in hospital.

Scared hours
It was an anxious time for the population. The police were initially unable to rule out the possibility that a coordinated attack was underway and called on people to stay at home and close doors and windows. The all-clear was finally given in the early evening: There had only been one perpetrator.