Sulaiman A. from Heppenheim is said to have injured several people in a knife attack in Mannheim. Neighbours describe the family father as inconspicuous, but have recently observed changes.

Seven injured, including a policeman who is fighting for his life: This is the result of a knife attack that occurred on Friday afternoon in Mannheim.

According to “Spiegel” and “SWR”, the suspect is a 25-year-old Afghan named Sulaiman A., who came to Germany in 2014. It is currently unclear whether the attack has a political background. However, investigators believe an Islamist motive is likely, according to the “Spiegel” report.

The authorities have not yet identified the suspect as an extremist. On Saturday morning, a spokesman for the Baden-Württemberg State Office of Criminal Investigation said that the perpetrator had undergone surgery. However, he was not yet fit to be questioned. A. was shot in the stomach by a police officer during the attack and was thus stopped.

As the Karlsruhe public prosecutor’s office also announced on Saturday, he is accused of attempted murder.

On Friday evening, police searched an apartment in Heppenheim, Hesse, which, according to a police spokesman, is connected to the knife attack: “We still have to verify the lead.”

Electronic data storage devices were confiscated from the 92 square meter three-room apartment, for which A. paid around 800 euros in rent per month according to Bild. These are currently being evaluated.

According to “SWR”, it was Sulaiman A.’s apartment that the officers searched. He is said to have lived in the Heppenheim high-rise complex for around three years, several residents confirmed in an interview with FOCUS online.

With over 100 parties in just one of the blocks, living together is rather anonymous. “I don’t even see my own neighbors,” says one woman.

The Heppenheim housing estate has everything you need: a bus stop on the doorstep, supermarkets within walking distance, shops, restaurants and green spaces. The 3-room apartments with more than 90 square meters of living space can be rented for around 800 euros a month.

According to various neighbors, 25-year-old Sulaiman A. lived here with his wife and two children. “I saw him with the children on the playground a few days ago,” a resident told FOCUS online.

When police officers arrived on Friday evening, the mother and children were no longer in the apartment, says another neighbor. A. has “changed recently,” he explains. He has occasionally had contact with the 25-year-old.

He describes the man who is said to have stabbed several people as generally friendly and helpful. But in the last six to twelve months, A. made a colder impression on his neighbors: “He became more withdrawn, slightly more aggressive.”

Not to him personally, but he speaks of friction in the high-rise. Overall, however, the family was unremarkable. The woman was wearing a head covering, but no burka or other symbols that would indicate a strict religious attitude.

“She was cold, not as friendly as him,” was the impression of the neighbor. Another said that the family, like most residents here, lived a rather secluded life: “We are 104 parties, the people mostly keep to themselves.”

In Heppenheim, too, they are puzzling over why their neighbor suddenly pulled out a knife in Mannheim on Friday and stabbed several people, including the activist Michael Stürzenberger.

The 59-year-old, a member of the right-wing populist, Islamophobic “Citizens’ Movement Pax Europa” (BPE) and author of the Islamophobic platform “PI-News”, was scheduled to speak on Mannheim’s market square.

His appearance was announced as an “education against political Islam.” The perpetrator injured five other people, and a police officer has since died in hospital.