An argument in the subway turned lethal after a 43-year-old Syrian stabbed a 29-year-old German to death on Saturday, April 12th. The suspect followed his victim off the train and inflicted three stabwounds, leaving the other man to die.
According to police, the assailant—whose residence status is currently unknown—then met law enforcement officers in a neighbouring street where the suspect is said to have approached the emergency services with the knife in his hand. In the further course of the incident, several shots had to be fired at the suspect.
At present, there are no indications of an Islamist motive, although both of the deceased are reported as having extensive criminal histories.
The deaths coincide with the Berlin Senate planning to extend its ‘knife-ban zones’ to local public transport. Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD) claimed that “regardless of yesterday’s homicide” the “establishment of further knife and weapon prohibition zones” is being examined, as shown by recent communications between Berlin’s Senate and its police force. While ‘zones’ in Leopoldplatz, Görlitzer Park and Kottbusser Tor have already seen 95 prohibited objects seized since February 15th, carrying weapons on the Subway is already prohibited.
Benjamin Jendro, a spokesperson for the Berlin Police Union (GdP), described the zones as “placebo,” doing little to prevent determined attackers.
Last year, Berlin recorded knife attacks at an average rate of nine per day. The death toll from knife attacks in Berlin was 19.
