Attacker shot

Man attacks soccer fans with an axe in Hamburg

Police officers at the scene of the crime on the Reeperbahn

(Bild: picturedesk.com/Steven Hutchings / dpa)

Soccer fans have once again been attacked in Germany! Just one day after the knife attack in Saxony-Anhalt, a man armed with a pointed hammer attacked people on Hamburg's Reeperbahn. He also tried to set off an incendiary device. The police were able to stop him with gunfire.

Thousands of soccer fans were celebrating on Hamburg's Reeperbahn on Sunday afternoon in the run-up to the European Championship match between Poland and the Netherlands when a man suddenly went on the rampage. The man had come out of a bar in Silbersackstraße at around midday. He had a tool in his hand, a kind of pickaxe, and pointed it at police officers in a "threatening manner", said a police spokesman.

Wanted to light a Molotov cocktail
They had asked him to put the tool down. He also had a Molotov cocktail in his hand. "He put down the pick hammer and then tried to light the Molotov cocktail with a lighter," said a police spokeswoman.

Police officers at the scene of the crime on the Reeperbahn

(Bild: picturedesk.com/Steven Hutchings / dpa)

Attacker critically injured with gunshots
A video circulating on social media shows the man threatening several people. He shouts "Shoot" at the police officers. The police officers first used pepper spray against the attacker. An officer then fired a warning shot before several shots were fired. The man was hit in the leg and fell to the ground. He was critically injured and received medical treatment at the scene.

The police cordoned off the crime scene in a side street of the Reeperbahn and also part of the Reeperbahn with bars. Officers secured evidence. "I firmly assume that the homicide squad will then also get involved and, as usual in these cases, the department will also carry out internal investigations," said the police spokeswoman.