Knife attack in Mannheim: “I followed with the camera, then suddenly the shot rang out”

A man attacked several people with a knife on a market square in Mannheim, including the Islam critic Michael Stürzenberger. A seriously injured police officer succumbed to his injuries. Now the background to the perpetrator is known. All news about the attack in the news ticker.

4:05 p.m.: Oliver Z., the cameraman who filmed the knife attack in Mannheim, actually only wanted to support Michael Stürzenberger’s educational work on political Islam. In the end, Z. may have prevented something even worse from happening.

In an interview with “Nius” he described the frightening moments: “I kicked the attacker. My intention was to stop him from causing further damage,” said Oliver Z. He went on to report that the attacker was extremely aggressive and the situation seemed out of control. “It all happened incredibly quickly – my impulse was simply to point the camera at it. I followed everything through my display, I had to capture what I saw,” the cameraman describes the scenes in which the suspected perpetrator stabbed people. “I followed him with the camera, then suddenly the shot rang out.” After the shot rang out, he immediately took care of the injured.

3.37 p.m.: According to the authorities, the knife attack in Mannheim was presumably motivated by Islamism. There is increasing evidence that this was an Islamist-extremist motivated crime, said Baden-Württemberg’s Interior Minister Thomas Strobl (CDU) on Tuesday in Stuttgart. There is also no evidence that the suspected perpetrator is a person who belongs to a larger group. It could be an Islamist radicalized lone perpetrator, said Strobl. These people in particular are particularly dangerous because lone perpetrators do not communicate in groups and are difficult to monitor. The 25-year-old was not previously known to the police.

3:30 a.m.: After the fatal knife attack in Mannheim, further details about the perpetrator are revealed. As “Bild” reports, the suspected perpetrator Sulaiman A. is said to have come to Germany from Afghanistan as a 14-year-old with his brother, as a so-called “unaccompanied minor”. He applied for asylum in Frankfurt and then lived in a youth apartment. Integration seems to be working; Sulaiman A. attends secondary school, takes German courses and even obtains the advanced B2 certificate. Although his asylum application is rejected, he is not deported because he is a minor. As an adult, he moves to Heppenheim and marries a woman with a German passport.

Former companions told Bild that they suspect that Sulaiman A. may have fallen into a group of radical young Islamists in Mannheim, radicalizing himself from a model immigrant to an Islamist. A suspicious YouTube account, on which videos of an Islamist preacher were uploaded, is also said to be linked to Sulaiman A., according to a report in Welt.

Tuesday, June 4, 12:15 a.m.: After the fatal knife attack in Mannheim, there are increasing calls for stricter deportations of foreign criminals. Several CDU-governed federal states supported the proposal by Hamburg’s Interior Senator Andy Grote (SPD) to deport foreigners who commit serious criminal offenses to Afghanistan and Syria in the future. FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr also told Bild: “People who show Islamist behavior here should also be deported to countries where this has not been possible so far, such as Afghanistan.”

7.36 p.m.: The Federal Prosecutor’s Office has taken over the investigation into the fatal knife attack in Mannheim. The highest German prosecution authority in Karlsruhe justified this on Monday with the “special significance of the case”. “We assume that the crime was religiously motivated,” said a spokeswoman for the German Press Agency. The “Spiegel” was the first to report on this. The spokeswoman explained that it was assumed that the man wanted to deny people critical of Islam their right to freedom of expression.

7.20 p.m.: After the fatal knife attack on Mannheim’s market square, investigators have asked for the help of witnesses. Images or videos are of interest, the public prosecutor’s office and the Baden-Württemberg State Office of Criminal Investigation announced on Monday. The authorities hope this will provide more information about where exactly on the market square the 25-year-old perpetrator was shortly before the attack last Friday and what he was doing during that time. Videos and images can be sent to the police via a tip portal.

In the attack during an event organized by the anti-Islam movement Pax Europa (BPE), the Afghan citizen injured six men, including a 29-year-old policeman. The policeman died of his injuries on Sunday afternoon. The attacker stabbed the officer several times in the head area.

5.45 p.m.: An initial analysis of Sulaiman A.’s cell phone confirms the suspicion that the knife attack in Mannheim had an Islamist motive. This is reported by the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” citing information from security circles. According to the report, it is likely that A. acted as a lone perpetrator, and there is no evidence of a network.

Monday, June 3, 4:06 p.m.: Sulaiman A. is said to have entered Germany in March 2013 as an unaccompanied, underage refugee. His asylum application was rejected in July 2014, reports “Welt” citing official documents. However, he was not deported to Afghanistan. Almost a decade later, A. was granted a temporary residence permit because he had had a child with a woman from Germany. According to information from “Bild,” the couple also had a second child.

According to Welt, a YouTube account that presumably belongs to Sulaiman A. suggests that the knife attacker from Mannheim was becoming increasingly radicalized. In recent months, the channel operator posted numerous videos of the former Afghan Taliban commander Ahmad Zahir Aslamiyar, who is considered a martyr among Islamists.

Surf tip: Knife attack in mosque city Mannheim – What would protect Islam critics and police officers better than knife-free zones and cameras

19:33: Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed his horror at the police officer’s death.

“I am deeply dismayed that the brave police officer succumbed to his serious injuries after the terrible attack in Mannheim,” Scholz wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “His commitment to the safety of us all deserves the highest recognition. In these hours, I am with his family and all those who mourn him.”

6.44 p.m.: The police officer who was seriously injured in the knife attack in Mannheim has died. The Interior Ministry announced this.

The attacker had stabbed the police officer several times in the head. After the attack, the police officer was initially operated on and placed in an artificial coma, but succumbed to his injuries in the late afternoon.

1:28 p.m.: In a video interview with “Bild,” Islam critic Michael Stürzenberger, who was attacked on Friday, reports from the hospital how he experienced the attack.

“It was all of a sudden that a person rushed at me and stabbed me. It was like the apocalypse. He stabbed me, pushed me over, then stabbed me while I was lying down. I tried to fend him off with my feet. It really was a nightmare, an absolute nightmare.”

Stürzenberger further reports on the numerous injuries inflicted on him by the attacker:

“The stab wound on the thigh, where veins were damaged and there was a relatively large loss of blood, it was important that it was tied off immediately. The stab wound above the kneecap, thank God the tendon was not damaged. It could have been worse,” says Stürzenberger. He also reports a stab wound on the chest: “It went towards the lungs, but thank God it didn’t injure the lung tissue or the lungs.” He was also hit with the knife on the upper arm and three times on the head.

Stürzenberger further describes to “Bild” how he experienced the beginning of the knife attack on the Mannheim market square:

“We actually wanted to play our theme song and start the rally. And then suddenly he came storming towards us like a hurricane and stabbed one after the other. It was crazy.”

Stürzenberger continues that he is “crossing all his fingers” for the police officer who was critically injured in the attack. He hopes that everything goes well. “Every police officer who is attacked is an attack on us, an attack on our free, democratic constitutional state, on the people who protect our state and ensure security. Anyone who attacks a police officer is attacking all of us.”

12.49 p.m.: After the knife attack on Friday in Mannheim, the police officer’s life is still in danger. As “Bild” reports, the officer is said to have suffered serious injuries to his forehead and brain. According to the report, there is little hope for the police officer. His parents and partner are currently in intensive care and fear for the man’s life. “It was clear early on that he would not survive this attack. But Rouven is an organ donor. He is being kept alive on a heart-lung machine,” a friend of the family told “Bild”. He continued tearfully: “He risked his life for our safety and wants to give other people a new life as an organ donor. He still has so much to do himself and is a great person. We are all devastated.”

According to “Bild”, the police officer was only working as a walk-around with the Mannheim police unit. According to the report, he was originally intended for a higher position in the police force. After the terrible incident on Friday morning, 30 of Rouven L.’s colleagues are unable to work. “We have declared a major disaster so that we can provide all those affected with all possible assistance upon request,” said Thomas Franz, deputy regional chairman of the victims’ organization Weißer Ring.

10:03 a.m.: After the knife attack that left seven people injured on Mannheim’s market square, the attacker is still unable to be questioned. The motive is still unclear, said a spokeswoman for the Baden-Württemberg State Office of Criminal Investigation on Sunday. In the attack during an event organized by the anti-Islam movement Pax Europa (BPE) on Friday, the man, who was born in Afghanistan, injured several people, including a police officer, critically. The 25-year-old was also injured himself and subsequently underwent surgery.

The police officer’s life is still in danger, said the spokeswoman. He had been put into an artificial coma. A cross-party alliance has called for a vigil in Mannheim on Sunday.

09.40 a.m.: In the debate about the consequences of the Mannheim knife attack, AfD party leader Alice Weidel has apologized for incorrect quotations from Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD). “A press release I quoted in a speech did not come from the

The ministry was outraged: “We strongly oppose

A corresponding video of a Weidel speech at the AfD Donnersberg “Palatinate meeting” on Saturday in Kirchheimbolanden, Rhineland-Palatinate, was not shown on AfD channels on Sunday, but copies of a video with the “AfD TV” logo continued to circulate online. In it, Weidel quotes from an obviously made-up press release by Faeser in front of a cheering audience.

Sunday, June 2nd, 8:40 a.m.: An expert, who is himself a police officer, explains what happened during the knife attack in Mannheim and why the officers acted as they did in the video that has been shared several times. Judging by their uniforms, the officers were members of a special police unit, the expert told Bild. “They are probably officers protecting the event.”

The video shows the police officer attacking a man in a blue top, not the attacker. “The devastating thing about such acts is the chaos phase. During this phase, the police officers are often not clear who is the perpetrator and who is the victim. In the video, we see the victim’s perspective, which is why it is very clear to us as viewers who is friend and who is foe. The police officers do not have this knowledge. Therefore, they have to decide within seconds who is the victim and who is the perpetrator,” said the expert.

The expert also explains why shots were not fired sooner. The restraint is perfectly normal in such a chaotic phase. The emergency services first have to get an overview. From the police officers’ point of view, it was not immediately clear how many perpetrators were involved. Normally, however, all police officers would have to draw their pistols when the word ‘knife’ is mentioned, the expert told Bild. “When the perpetrator stands up, there is initially no clear line of fire. After attacking the police officer, the perpetrator moves out of the scene, the field of fire becomes clear and the colleague shoots. This colleague acts very courageously and purposefully and prevents (even) worse from happening.”

8:50 p.m.: Politicians from all parties have expressed their horror at the video by “Imam Meta” in which a man approves of the knife attack in Mannheim. Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser made a statement to “Bild”. “Glorifying the murderous knife attack is disgusting and inhumane. Anyone who does this must be prosecuted with the full force of the criminal law,” said the SPD politician. “Our security authorities are pursuing this consistently.” According to the report, the Baden-Württemberg State Office of Criminal Investigation is investigating.

Wolfgang Kubicki appears similarly shocked in the Bild newspaper. “The hatred that has broken out after the terrible attack is disgusting and repulsive,” said the FDP politician – but he is not surprised by the video. “Unfortunately, it is no longer surprising. We have been talking about parallel societies and the influx of Islamists for decades. Every substantive suggestion to tackle the problem politically is immediately talked down and often labelled as ‘right-wing’ and therefore, in the logic of too many journalists, worthy of condemnation.”

CDU politician Thomas Strobl promises to clarify the matter to Bild. “The police and the judiciary are relentlessly pursuing this. This is precisely why the State Criminal Police Office has already brought together IT investigators centrally for the current investigations,” said the Interior Minister of Baden-Württemberg. “Such statements after such an act are abhorrent, vile and disgusting. In our country, crimes – especially murder – are punished with the full force of the law and not celebrated. In a video like this, you can see a crime, such as incitement to murder, and anyone who thinks they can act unpunished from the anonymity of the Internet is seriously mistaken!”

Green Party politician Konstantin von Notz also called for consequences in the Bild newspaper. “Anyone who publicly celebrates such a brutal act must immediately face severe consequences. This behavior cannot be tolerated and must result in swift criminal proceedings.”

CSU man Alexander Dobrindt told Bild that Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser should take tougher action against Islamists. “Terror suspects, Islamist agitators and those who pose a threat should be imprisoned, detained or deported. Germany needs a tough line against this Islamist agitation and calls for violence with minimum prison sentences for caliphate extremists, cancellation of social benefits, loss of residence permits or dual citizenship.”

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