Two dead in Germany Focus on motive after knife attack on kindergarten group
Another knife attack, another death: the suspect is expected to be brought before the magistrate today. It is eagerly awaited whether the motive for the crime will become public.
23.01.2025, 06:15
23.01.2025, 06:17
dpa
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- Following the violent attack that left two dead and three injured in Aschaffenburg, Franconia, investigators are focusing on finding the motive for the crime.
- The 28-year-old suspect is expected to be brought before a magistrate this Thursday.
- It is uncertain whether he will be willing to explain his reasons for the attack.
- The possibly mentally unstable Afghan is said to have attacked a boy from a kindergarten group with a kitchen knife in a popular inner-city park on Wednesday afternoon.
- A two-year-old of Moroccan origin died.
- A 41-year-old German was also fatally injured.
- Three people were injured.
Following the violent attack in Aschaffenburg, Franconia, which left two dead and three injured, investigators are focusing on finding the motive for the crime. Witnesses have to be questioned and evidence analyzed. In addition, the 28-year-old suspect is likely to be brought before a magistrate. It is uncertain whether he will be willing to explain his reasons for the attack.
The question of his culpability at the time of the attack is also likely to occupy the investigators. The authorities will also have to answer questions as to why the alleged perpetrator, who is required to leave the country, was still in Germany.
Sudden attack on the defenceless
The possibly mentally unstable Afghan is said to have attacked a boy from a kindergarten group with a kitchen knife in a popular inner-city park on Wednesday afternoon - "suddenly and deliberately", as Bavaria's Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said after the attack. A two-year-old of Moroccan origin died.
A 41-year-old German was also fatally injured. "We currently assume that this man courageously intervened to protect the other children, turned against the perpetrator and was then fatally injured by the perpetrator himself," said Herrmann.
A two-year-old girl from Syria and a 72-year-old man were also injured. A 59-year-old educator of the children broke her arm during her escape.
The suspect was arrested shortly after the violence and the knife was recovered. The police cordoned off the park for hours and secured evidence.
The people were attacked in Schöntal Park.
Image: dpa
The crime scene is in the city center.
Image: dpa
Tapes block off stairs to the park.
Image: dpa
After the knife attack in Aschaffenburg, the authorities are now in demand.
Image: dpa
The people were attacked in Schöntal Park.
Image: dpa
The crime scene is in the city center.
Image: dpa
Tapes block off stairs to the park.
Image: dpa
After the knife attack in Aschaffenburg, the authorities are now in demand.
Image: dpa
Questions about the obligation to leave the country
The debate as to why the suspect was still in Germany is likely to pick up speed on Thursday. According to Bavaria's Interior Minister Herrmann, there had been a Dublin procedure, but it could not be completed in time. The Dublin procedure is part of the common European asylum system. One of the regulations states that, in many cases, the state in which the refugee first set foot on EU soil is responsible for handling the asylum procedure.
The man had applied for asylum after entering the country in November 2022, as Herrmann said. However, his procedure had been completed after he himself had informed the authorities in writing at the beginning of December 2024 that he wanted to leave the country.
According to Herrmann, he stated that he wanted to obtain the necessary papers from the Afghan Consulate General. He was then asked to leave the country by the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (Bamf). However, he had not yet left the country; according to Herrmann, he was "apparently still undergoing psychiatric treatment". Further details would have to be clarified in the coming days.
According to the information provided, the 28-year-old had already attracted attention three times for acts of violence. He had therefore been admitted to psychiatric institutions for psychiatric treatment on each occasion, but had then been released. According to the police and the public prosecutor's office, however, there have been no indications so far that the man has any radical convictions.
Calls for consequences from politicians
Following a meeting with the heads of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the Federal Criminal Police Office and the Federal Police in the Chancellery that evening, Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz said: "We will solve this case quickly and draw the necessary conclusions. Now."
CDU leader Friedrich Merz called for "clear political answers". "We will have to talk about this as soon as the circumstances of this terrible crime have been clarified," said the CDU/CSU candidate for chancellor.
FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr called for a meeting of the federal and state interior ministers as soon as possible. "Politicians must react to this. The federal and state interior ministers must meet for a special conference as soon as possible," Dürr told the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND).
Knife attack is reminiscent of the case in Würzburg
The crime is reminiscent of a fatal knife attack on passers-by in Würzburg on 25 June 2021, when a mentally ill man attacked unsuspecting people in the city center with a knife. Three women died, nine people were injured and many more were traumatized.