A man came off a train at the central station in Dusseldorf, Germany and began attacking people with an ax. As many as 7 people were reportedly injured, at least one of them seriously. Police have said the attacker appeared to be going after people “at random.” The attacker fled the scene and leaped from an overpass to escape pursuing police. He was seriously injured but is now in custody. From the Washington Post:
An amateur video apparently shot from the scene showed a shell-shocked eyewitness walking around bloodstained floors as police tended to a wounded person on the ground.
“The guy just started striking at people with an ax,” the unidentified man in the video says. “I’ve never seen anything like that in my life, directly next to me he started hitting people with an ax.”“We were standing on the platform, platform 14, waiting for the train. Suddenly, he came out of the train, I think, with an ax and started striking at people. Two meters next to us,” the same man said in the video.
There are several videos which appear to show the aftermath of the attack:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hSAHdLOEoE
So far, no one is suggesting a terrorist motive for the attack. NBC reports the man may have had mental problems:
The suspect — described only as a 36-year-old man from the former Yugoslavia living in the nearby city of Wuppertal — was also injured while trying to escape, police said. They said he is believed to have acted alone and “apparently has mental problems.”
Last year, three suspects believed to have connections to ISIS were arrested for plotting a terrorist attack in Dusseldorf. Also last July there was an ISIS connected ax attack on a train in Würzburg, Germany.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member