Suspect in custody

“I want to stab and slash you all”!

The incident took place in a streetcar on Linzer Landstraße

(Bild: Wenzel Markus)

"I'll stab you, I'll slash you!", a Chechen man (25) threatened to kill a woman of the same age, whom he didn't even know, on a streetcar in the center of Linz at around 7.45 a.m. on Friday. The mentally ill man was taken into custody.

The Linz woman had previously noticed the man because he had been mumbling into his beard. Then the threats started: "I'll stab you all. The moment will come," the suspect is said to have said.

"I don't care if you're children"
When schoolchildren boarded the bus at Taubenmarkt, the Chechen is said to have threatened them too and said: "I don't care if you're children." He is also said to have threatened: "All non-Muslims will be stabbed to death."

The threatened Linz woman showed her nerve and alerted the police. Thanks to her good personal description, the suspect was arrested in Raimundstraße - near the Unionkreuzung intersection. He was unarmed. The suspect was also recognized by the victim.

Unemployed and several previous convictions
The unemployed Chechen, who has a criminal record for numerous violent crimes, was remanded in custody at the request of the Linz public prosecutor's office. Due to his mental condition, he was placed in the forensic department of the Neuromed Campus in Linz. He is currently being investigated on suspicion of making dangerous threats. According to the police, he had recently attracted attention by talking to himself in public, according to Ulrike Breiteneder from the Linz public prosecutor's office.

Suspects and offenders who are mentally ill or addicted to drugs are detained in the forensic psychiatric ward.

"Hands up or I'll shoot"
The 14-year-old who entered a pub in Auwiesen with an airsoft pistol in his hand and the words "Hands up or I'll shoot" was released.