(Gerhard Berger/Facebook)
At man armed with an ax attacked several people at the main train station in Dusseldorf, Germany, on Thursday, Bild reports.
Nine people were injured.
The suspect has been identified only as Fatmir H., a mentally ill asylum seeker from Kosovo, Spiegel Online reports.
Police do not believe any of the victims suffered life-threatening injuries in the ax attack, but three of the victims was seriously injured. The attacker was also wounded while trying to escape, police said.
what’s happen! Dusseldorf Hbf
In a statement, police said the man attacked the victims “indiscriminately” with the ax during the “violent” attack, which began about 8:50 p.m. local time.
Police say they have not found any connections to Islamic terrorism.
“We are not using the words ‘rampage’ or ‘terror’,” a police spokesman told Reuters.
Police said they do not believe he has any links to any organizations and there is not thought to be any threat of a further attack.
Here is what you need to know:
1. The Suspect Was Taken Into Custody After He Jumped From a Bridge
(Alexander Scheuber/Getty)
Fatmir H. was taken into custody after the attack, Bild reports.
His identity has not yet been released.
Sources told the newspaper the suspect jumped from a bridge to flee police before he was arrested. He was captured under the bridge and was seriously wounded during the escape attempt.
Earlier reports indicated there were multiple suspects taken into custody, but Bild reports it is not clear if anyone else was involved in the attack. Police said multiple people were detained as a precaution during the search of the train station.
2. The Suspect Suffers From Paranoid Schizophrenia & Came to Germany From Kosovo for ‘Humanitarian Reasons’
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German federal police said in a statement that the 36-year-old suspect, is from the “former Yugoslavia” and lives in Wuppertal, a German city in North Rhine-Westphalia.
On Friday, Spiegel Online reported that the suspect, Fatmir H., came to Germany from Kosovo in 2009 for “humanitarian reasons.”
He has a history of mental health issues, police said. In a press release, police said he has “obvious psychological problems.”
Police said at a press conference the suspect possibly carried out the attack as an attempt to end his life, The Local reports.
Fatmir told police he hoped to be shot dead.
“We call that ‘suicide by cop’, police crime squad chief Dietmar Kneip told reporters. But luckily we were able to arrest him.”
He suffered serious injuries, including multiple broken bones, but is expected to survive, Kneip said.
3. A Witness Said There Was ‘Blood Everywhere’
(Alexander Scheuber/Getty)
A video from the scene shows blood on the ground and emergency responders appearing to give treatment to a victim:
According to Bild, the suspect randomly attacked four or five people with the ax.
The Rheinische Post reports a 13-year-old girl was among those injured. A witness told the newspaper he helped treat the girl’s wound and get her to her father.
The newspaper also reports a 20-year-old man suffered a head injury and was pulled onto a train by friends to escape the attacker.
A witness told Bild he was standing while waiting for the train and someone “jumped out with an ax,” hitting people. “There was blood everywhere,” the witness said in German
Two Italian tourists were also among those injured, Spiegel Online reports.
Claudia Letizia, the mother of one of the victims, shared a photo of her son in his hospital bed.
She said he is in intensive care after being hit on the head from behind with the ax. Letizia said the media is downplaying the incident and called it “incomprehensible.”
4. Trains Were Not Stopping at the Station & Witnesses Reported a Large Police Presence
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Passengers on trains tweeted that they were not stopping at the Dusseldorf station because of the incident.
Stay away from #Dusseldorf train station crazy man with #axe on the lose .. :(
Train is not stopping in #Dusseldorf #police closed the station . #terror #germany
Witnesses said there was a large police presence at the station, and reported chaos when the attack occurred.
A police helicopter was circling above the station and witnesses said there were anti-terror police at the scene among the heavily armed officers.
The Bundespolizei, the German federal police, tweeted that special forces were at the scene.
The station was reopened Friday morning.
5. German Authorities Have Been on High Alert After Multiple Terror Attacks, Including 1 by an Ax-Wielding Man
German authorities have been on high alert for possible terrorist activity in recent years after a series of deadly attacks in the country, including an attack by an ax-wielding man.
Five people were injured on July 18, 2016, when a man with an ax attacked passengers on a train in Wuerzburg in Southern Germany, according to the BBC.
The attacker, an asylum seeker from Pakistan named Muhammed Riyad, was fatally shot by police. Police said Riyad left behind a martyrdom video, which was distributed by ISIS. He claimed he was instructed by ISIS to use an ax in the attack.
ISIS has distributed materials to its followers instructing them to attack using whatever method available to them, whether it be with a gun, a knife, an ax or a vehicle.
The Berlin Christmas market attack scene. (Getty)
In December, 12 people were killed and 48 were injured in an ISIS-inspired truck attack on a Christmas market in Berlin.
In July 2016, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive outside a wine bar in Ansbach. Twelve people were injured, but the bomber was the only person killed. He pledged allegiance to ISIS before the bombing, the first suicide attack in German history.
