- A total of three women and one man were injured in a knife attack on the campus of the Hamm-Lippstadt University of Applied Sciences (D) on Friday.
- Now one of the victims, a 30-year-old lecturer, has died. This was announced by the public prosecutor’s office in Dortmund.
- The police speak of an “amoktat” – the confessed perpetrator was admitted to a psychiatric clinic.
The alleged perpetrator suffered from fear of persecution and delusions, said public prosecutor Henner Kruse in Dortmund. He thought those attacked were members of a group that was trying to kill him. Only two days earlier, the man had attempted suicide and had therefore come to a psychiatric clinic. He released himself there on Friday afternoon.
Students attacked in the foyer and lecture hall
The German 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 man then attacked the 30-year-old lecturer. 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 courageous. They would certainly have prevented many more victims.
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,” prosecutor Kruse outlined the perpetrator’s possible perspective. 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.
Legend:
The attack occurred at the Hamm-Lippstadt University of Applied Sciences (HSHL), a technical college in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It was founded in 2009 and named after its two locations in Hamm and Lippstadt.
key stone
Perpetrator had no criminal record, but was known
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, her life was no longer in danger. However, the woman is still in an intensive care unit.
In the lecture hall, where a lecture was taking place, the man then attacked the 30-year-old lecturer. Prosecutors said she suffered serious internal injuries. 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 had been ruled out.