Perpetrator part of a group?
Knife attack on police officers probably motivated by Islamism
04.06.2024, 14:50
Listen to article
This audio version was artificially generated. More info | Send feedback
After the fatal attack on a police officer in Mannheim, the suspicion that it was an Islamist act seems to be confirmed. The authorities currently assume that the attack was carried out by a lone perpetrator. Meanwhile, colleagues of the victim are being attacked on social networks.
According to the authorities, the knife attack in Mannheim was presumably motivated by Islamist groups. The evidence is mounting that this was an Islamist-extremist motivated crime, said Baden-Württemberg’s Interior Minister Thomas Strobl. There is also no indication that the suspected perpetrator is a person who belongs to a larger group.
Strobl said that it could be a lone perpetrator with radicalized Islamism. These people 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.
Mannheim’s Vice President of Police Ulrike Schäfer was deeply affected by the death of Rouven L. At the same time, she criticized the hatred and agitation on social media that had followed the brutal act in recent days. There were not only insults and threats against the colleagues of the deceased, but also blame. “Disrespectful and sometimes contemptuous comments towards the deceased colleague can be found on some platforms,” she said. Those who had worked with L. and were present at the fateful operation are currently receiving psychological support.
Call for donations for injured police officers
Rouven L. was stabbed to death on Friday in downtown Mannheim during an anti-Islam rally. He died a short time later from his life-threatening injuries. The suspected perpetrator, a 25-year-old man with Afghan nationality, was shot by another police officer and is not yet fit to be questioned. The Federal Prosecutor’s Office has now taken over the investigation.
According to Schäfer, a donations account has now been set up by the Baden-Württemberg Police Foundation. The money will go to police officers injured or killed in the line of duty. “With the addition of ‘Rouven’, the donations will reach the relatives of our deceased colleague.”