Berlin police detained a man on Tuesday following a knife attack that left two people injured in the city’s Charlottenburg neighborhood.
Why It Matters
The attack comes just after a deadly Christmas market assault on December 20 rattled Germany.
In that incident, an individual intentionally drove a car into a busy outdoor Christmas market in Magdeburg. The attack killed five people and has injured over 200. Among the casualties was a 9-year-old child and four adults.
What To Know
Authorities identified the attacker in the New Year’s Eve incident as a Syrian national holding residency in Sweden.
Police described the incident as an “attempted murder,” stating that the man allegedly stabbed two victims—one inside a supermarket and another on the sidewalk outside a nearby hotel—using a knife he had stolen from the store shortly before noon local time.
Both victims were transported to a hospital with one later discharged after receiving outpatient care, police said. Local media in Berlin reported that the attacker appeared to target victims at random. Several bystanders intervened, subduing the man until police arrived on the scene.
Charlottenburg, typically a tranquil district in Berlin, was the site of the unsettling attack.
In southwestern Germany on Tuesday, police fatally shot a 38-year-old German man after he stole an excavator in Grünsfeld and rammed it into a hardware store, slightly injuring three officers during the ensuing chase, according to the German news agency dpa.
Christmas Market Attack
Authorities have charged a Saudi doctor with murder in connection to the deadly Christmas market attack.
Magdeburg police chief Tom-Oliver Langhans said during a press briefing last week that as of now, officials believe the suspect acted alone.
The motive of the market attack is not yet clear. Prosecutor Horst Walter Nopens said it may be due to “disgruntlement with the way Saudi Arabian refugees are treated in Germany,” but the incident remains under investigation.
The reported suspect’s X (formerly Twitter) biography reads: “Saudi Military Opposition • Germany chases female Saudi asylum seekers, inside and outside Germany, to destroy their lives • Germany wants to islamize Europe.”
Nopens said at the press conference that the suspect is “being investigated for five counts of suspected murder and 205 counts of suspected attempted murder.”
What People Are Saying
While speaking with The Associated Press police spokeswoman Jane Berndt said of the stabbing attack: “Initial findings indicate that the suspect may have signs of mental illness and that there is not indication for a terrorist motivation.”
What’s Next
Berndt noted that the investigation is still ongoing and police are likely to reveal more information in the coming days.