On Wednesday, a man killed two people with a knife and injured seven others on a regional train traveling from Kiel to Hamburg.
The suspect was arrested shortly after the crime at a small train station in Brokstedt.
Schleswig-Holstein’s Interior Minister Sabine Sütterlin-Waack rushed to the scene shortly after she was told the news. Speaking to reporters in Brokstedt on Wednesday evening, she said the suspect was a stateless man from the Palestinian territories.
Reports of the young man’s age varied slightly in the hours after the attack. However, police said the 33-year-old suspect was taken to hospital and taken into custody with minor injuries.
Three of the injured were seriously injured, four were slightly injured.
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser wrote on Twitter: “All our thoughts are with the victims and their families of this terrible crime.”
She said she contacted her regional counterpart, Sütterlin-Waack, to offer support.
“The circumstances surrounding this crime are now being investigated with high priority,” Faeser said. – I sincerely thank the police and emergency services.
Other national and regional politicians and local religious leaders also issued similar messages of condolence or distress.
What else do we know so far?
Police said the attack happened as the train approached Brokstedt, a small community of about 2,000 people north of Hamburg. The suspect was arrested when the train reached Brokstedt station. Several travelers from the train called an ambulance.
Police later said three passengers were eventually able to subdue the suspected gunman on board and police arrived at the scene with him under control.
There were about 70 passengers in total on the train. Police took their statements in a nearby parking lot.
The station was closed to allow emergency services and forensic teams to work on the scene. Rail service providers have reported disruptions in the area.
More details remained unclear about two hours after the attack, police said. Neither the suspected motives or reasons for the attacker’s actions nor the condition of the injured were fully clear.
Police said that based on preliminary checks, the suspect was not on any extremist watch lists.
The dpa news agency also reported, this time citing security sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity, that the man showed signs of psychiatric illness.
Regional Interior Minister Süttlerin-Waack from the Christian Democrats was informed of the crime while in the state parliament. First, she consulted with the state’s prime minister, Daniel Günther. She arrived in Brokstedt in the early evening.
msh/nm (AFP, dpa)
