Boy (2) among the victims

Knife attack in Bavaria: Suspect before judge

Several people - including children - were attacked in Schöntal Park in Aschaffenburg on Wednesday. Two people were killed.

(Bild: Copyright NEWS5 GmbH, Krone KREATIV)

Following the fatal knife attack in Aschaffenburg in northern Bavaria, the 28-year-old suspect is to be brought before a magistrate on Thursday, according to police reports. A two-year-old boy and a 41-year-old man were killed in the attack on Wednesday.

The man who allegedly killed two people with a knife in Aschaffenburg was apparently targeting children, as Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU) said on Wednesday evening during a visit to the crime scene.

According to Herrmann, he attacked several children and teachers in a kindergarten group with a kitchen knife. A 41-year-old German passer-by tried to fend off the attacker and paid for his efforts with his life. A two-year-old boy of Moroccan descent was also among the victims. Other people were injured, some of them seriously, including a two-year-old Syrian girl.

Shock in Aschaffenburg after the fatal knife attack: people have placed candles at the scene of the crime and in front of Aschaffenburg town hall.

(Bild: Copyright NEWS5 GmbH)

Suspect probably mentally ill
According to Herrmann, the suspect from Afghanistan was obliged to leave the country due to an asylum procedure that he had broken off himself and was also undergoing treatment for mental health problems. The suspect had last been registered in an asylum shelter in the region and had already made several police appearances. According to Herrmann, there were no indications of a radical attitude. A check at the man's home address also revealed no such indications. The crime was apparently the result of his mental illness.

Three seriously injured people still in hospital
Three seriously injured people were still in hospital. "But they are all out of danger," said a spokesperson for the German police. According to previous findings, the attacker had injured the two-year-old girl from Syria three times in the neck area with a kitchen knife. A 72-year-old man was also attacked and suffered multiple injuries to his chest, according to Bavaria's Health Minister Judith Gerlach. A 59-year-old kindergarten teacher broke her arm in the commotion.

Decision on detention in the afternoon
Investigators are now focusing on finding the motive for the crime. Witnesses have to be questioned and evidence analyzed. The suspect is expected to be brought before a magistrate later today. The judge will decide whether the 28-year-old will be placed in a psychiatric ward or remanded in custody. "At the moment, the suspicion is very much in the direction of his obvious mental illness," Herrmann had said the previous evening. 

The question of his culpability at the time of the crime is also likely to occupy the investigators. The authorities will also have to face questions as to why the suspected perpetrator, who was obliged to leave the country, was still in Germany.

Politicians express their dismay
Politicians from various parties expressed their shock and sympathy for the relatives of the victims and the injured. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) met with Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) and the heads of the security authorities on Wednesday evening. Scholz explained that "misunderstood tolerance is completely inappropriate" towards perpetrators who have come to Germany seeking protection. Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) spoke of a "cowardly and despicable act", the circumstances of which must be fully clarified.