Two days after the fatal car journey of a mentally ill man in Berlin, Hamm, Westphalia, is the scene of a similar tragedy. A 30-year-old succumbed to her injuries over the weekend.
After the knife attack at Hamm University by a suspected mentally ill man, one of the victims died.
The 30-year-old woman from Essen succumbed to her injuries in the late afternoon on Saturday, the Dortmund public prosecutor said on Sunday.
A total of three women and one man were injured in the knife attack on Friday afternoon. The suspect was admitted to a psychiatric hospital. After a psychiatric report, the investigators assume that the student was innocent or less responsible for the crime. The police spoke on Saturday of an “amoctacy”.
The victims of the attacks on the Hamm campus of the Hamm-Lippstadt University of Applied Sciences are two female and one male student, all 22 years old. The fourth victim who died on Saturday was a lecturer from Essen.
The perpetrator left the psychiatric ward on Friday
The alleged perpetrator suffered from fear of persecution and delusions, said prosecutor Henner Kruse on Saturday in Dortmund. He believed those attacked to be members of a group that was trying to kill him. Only two days earlier he had attempted suicide and had therefore come to a psychiatric clinic. He released himself there on Friday afternoon.
The suspect is said to have stabbed the students one after the other in the foyer of the university. In a lecture hall where a lecture was being held in front of more than 100 people, the German then attacked the 30-year-old.
He was overwhelmed by the participants of the event and was arrested by the police a little later. Deputy Dortmund police chief Ralf Ziegler expressed his respect for the people who overpowered the man: It was very, very courageous. They would certainly have prevented many more victims.
No indication of political motives
Investigators believe all four were accidental victims. The murder weapons, two kitchen knives, were bought by the man shortly before the crime. “He went into the technical college to kill the people who were trying to kill him,” Kruse outlined the possible perspective of the alleged perpetrator. There is no evidence of a political or religious background to the crime. Investigated for attempted murder and dangerous bodily harm. The man confessed to the crime.
The first victim, a 22-year-old, is said to have suddenly been attacked by the man in the foyer. She sustained lacerations on one cheek. He then injured a student in the neck. He then stabbed a woman several times in the stomach. After an emergency operation, there was no longer any danger to life on Saturday. However, the 22-year-old was still in an intensive care unit. In the lecture hall where a lecture was taking place, he then attacked the 30-year-old. She suffered significant internal injuries, Kruse said. A helicopter took her to a clinic. She died there a day later.
The alleged perpetrator had no criminal record, but was known to the Hamm police. At the beginning of April he filed a complaint because he felt persecuted, said Hamm’s police chief Thomas Kubera. At the time, he was very open about his mental illness. There was then also a so-called risk assessment. A danger to self and others was ruled out at the time.
The university canceled all courses and exams on the Hamm campus for Monday. “After the terrible events, we cannot and do not want to simply continue with regular operations on Monday, but pause for a moment,” said the university on its website.
