Following Repeated Stabbing Incidents: German Police Sounds the Alarm!

According to BBC NEWS, the 24-year-old suspect, a Somali immigrant, grabbed a knife from the kitchen section of a department store, attacking several inside. He then lashed out at people outside killing three women.

The three people killed in a knife attack in the German city of Würzburg on Friday were all women, police say.

The BBC NEWS website reported that five women and a child were also injured in the attack.

Police say that he was possibly psychologically unstable and may have held extremist Islamist beliefs.

Knife Attacker Killed Three

On Saturday, the suspect appeared in court, charged with three murders and six counts of attempted murder and causing grievous bodily harm.

The man allegedly seized a knife and stabbed and killed a saleswoman and two more women in the store.

He then injured five other women and a child on the street and in a bank.

According to the website, Police were alerted to the attack at around 17:00 local time (15:00 GMT), in the city centre's Barbarossa Square.

Videos on social media of the incident showed a man armed with a large knife being confronted and subdued by passers-by.

The suspect was shot in the thigh before being arrested.

Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann told reporters that, "it is not certain if the most seriously injured will survive".

According to BBC NEWS, officers have searched the suspect's home and are investigating his contacts for further evidence.

Police searched a homeless shelter, where he was registered to be living, and found his phone and leaflets with hateful messaging, police said.

A witness reported that the suspect shouted "Allah Akbar" during the attack, said Mr Herrmann.

However, a police spokesman said that, while the attacker had a criminal record, none of his previous offences were related to terrorism.

Terrorism Behind Germany Attacks

The motive for the attack has not been officially confirmed, however police suspect Islamic extremism as the motive for it like many other attacks in Germany.

For example, on February 19,2020, officials said that a suspected far-right extremist killed at least nine people in attacks on two shisha bars in a city in western Germany. Chancellor Angela Merkel said there were many signs the attacker in Hanau had acted out of racism.

The attack comes amid growing concerns about far-right violence in Germany. Speaking in Berlin, Mrs Merkel said: "Racism is a poison. Hate is a poison and this poison exists in our society and is already to blame for many crimes."

In a brief statement, Mrs Merkel also vowed to do everything possible to clarify the background to the attack, saying: "There are many indications at the moment that the perpetrator acted on right-wing extremist, racist motives, out of hatred towards people of other origins, religion or appearance."

Stringent Laws?

Gun laws in Germany are among the most stringent in the world, and were tightened further in recent years after other mass shootings.

However, when it comes to knife attacks, After a wave of deadly knife attacks, the German Police Union demanded the issuance of stricter laws and regulations regarding the carrying of knives, and the resulting crimes. The syndicate says that the Arab youth immigrating to Germany hold wrong ideas about carrying knives.

After the repeated knife attacks that grabbed newspaper and media headlines in Germany, the German Police Union demanded that targeting others through stabbing attacks be classified as an “attempted murder” , rather than as a “serious bodily wound”, as is the case in the German judiciary so far.

In response to a query by German news agency dpa, the police union said: "In this way, an immediate pre-trial detention order can be issued, and in the event of a refugee's stabbing, it is logical that it will be followed by deportation." The union added that the new Minister of Justice, Katharina Barley, should follow this way.

The German Police Union considers that the penalty for attacks with knives should be considered as a crime that requires imprisonment for at least one year.

German law imposes the "maximum penalty" but does not speak of the "lowest penalty" that can be imposed on perpetrators of stabbings. There is only “beating to death” or “killing” when the victim dies. Police say it is "a mistake because the death or survival of the person who was stabbed is a matter of pure chance."

A Wave of Deadly Knife Attacks

In the past months, Germany has witnessed many fatal stabbings with knives by young people, for example, in the beginning of March, a young man stabbed a 16-year-old boy in a discos in the town of Rosenheim, but he was treated and left hospital.

A 34-year-old man was stabbed on a public street in the town of "Schwabach" on "Good Friday" and died in the same place. 

Refugees have also committed stabbing incidents such as the one in Kandel, in the southwest of the country, where an Afghan refugee killed an underage German girl after stabbing her with a knife. 

Another 18-year-old Afghan asylum seeker stabbed his 17-year-old girlfriend in her home in the northern city of Flensburg, killing her.

According to Reuters Website, Five years ago, Wuerzburg, an ancient city of 130,000 people some 100 km (62 miles) south-east of Frankfurt, was the scene of a knife attack on a train by a 17-year-old Pakistani asylum seeker in which five people were injured, two seriously. 

Therefore, the German Police Union talks about a "clear" increase in the number of stabbing attacks in Germany, while there is still no official data showing the number of such attacks at the level of Germany, unlike the shooting incidents.

The syndicate calls for an inventory of the number of crimes committed with knives in order to accurately determine the causes of this phenomenon. Note that there are many types of knives that it is prohibited to buy or use in public places in Germany.

The police union says that "knives are readily available, can be obtained quickly, and are easy to transport and used, especially by young people." "It is enough just a small talk for the knife to be pulled out" and used to attack the opponent, it added.

As a conclusion, the syndicate reports that the number of young immigrants who commit stabbing attacks is striking. It says that the Arab youth immigrating to Germany hold wrong ideas about carrying knives. They come from their countries with the idea that carrying a knife is neither unusual nor bad. Young people look at each other and then everyone becomes armed with knives.

After this wave of deadly knife attacks, the German Police Union demanded the issuance of stricter laws and regulations regarding the carrying of knives, and the resulting crimes.

Back to the last crime, one of the injured was still fighting for her life, while two had been released from hospital. Very sad, residents laid flowers and candles outside the store.