Combat knife in the head

Knife attack: hardly any hope left for police officer

Sulaiman A. uses the combat knife to stab Rouven L., who is holding the man in the blue jacket, in the neck. He had mistakenly struck a helper (right) who had restrained the assassin.

(Bild: Quelle: YouTube/Augen auf!; krone.at)

In the intensive care unit at Mannheim hospital, relatives are currently fearing for the life of police officer Rouven L., who was seriously injured in the knife attack on Friday. He was put into an induced coma on Saturday, but there is now hardly any hope for the officer, as a friend now reports. 

"It was clear early on that he might not survive this attack. But Rouven is an organ donor. He is being kept alive on a heart-lung machine," a friend of the family told Bild on Sunday. 

"He risked his life for our safety"
And adds: "He risked his life for our safety and wants to give other people a new life as an organ donor. He still has so much planned for himself and is a great person. We are all devastated." According to Bild, the police officer is in his late 20s. 

Sulaiman A. uses the combat knife to stab Rouven L., who is holding the man in the blue jacket. He had mistakenly struck a helper (right) who had restrained the assassin.

(Bild: Quelle: YouTube/Augen auf!; krone.at)

(Bild: Quelle: YouTube/Augen auf!; krone.at)

Perpetrator still not fit for questioning
The attacker, who was born in Afghanistan, is still not fit for questioning. The motive for his brutal act remains unclear, said a spokeswoman for the Baden-Württemberg State Office of Criminal Investigation on Sunday. The 25-year-old was also injured himself and subsequently underwent surgery.

According to the Karlsruhe public prosecutor's office, a warrant has now been issued for his arrest. He is accused of attempted murder. He has lived in Germany since 2014. He is married, has two children and most recently lived in Heppenheim in Hesse.

Photos from the crime scene:

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The attacker had injured five members of the right-wing populist citizens' movement Pax Europa (BPE) and police officer Rouven L. on the market square in Mannheim at around midday on Friday. The other injured are five men aged between 25 and 59 - including three German, one German-Kazakh and one Iraqi citizen. 

Critic of Islam on the road to recovery
BPE board member Michael Stürzenberger, who was injured in the attack, spoke from hospital on Saturday. "It was really close yesterday", the Islam critic wrote on Telegram. Stürzenberger reported that he had suffered several stab wounds, one of which in his thigh had caused "considerable blood loss". He was also injured in the face. Stürzenberger thanked all the doctors involved as well as the facial surgeons "who came all the way from a specialist clinic".

Video calls for the murder of "every critic of Islam"
In the meantime, a video that has surfaced on the internet is causing new controversy. The video glorifies the act committed by the Afghan-born man and calls for the murder of "any critic of Islam".