After the knife attack at an elementary school, the Berlin public prosecutor’s office applied for the alleged perpetrator to be placed in a psychiatric hospital instead of in custody. That said a spokeswoman for the public prosecutor’s office on Thursday of the German Press Agency. The corresponding application will be made to the investigating judge. The judge still has to decide on Thursday.
There are indications that the man suffers from mental disorders, said the spokeswoman. Therefore, accommodation in the hospital of the forensic institution instead of custody is appropriate. The 38-year-old alleged perpetrator is a German who lives in Berlin. There was no further information about the man.
According to the police, two girls (seven and eight years old) were injured in the attack on Wednesday afternoon – one seriously, the other was initially in mortal danger, on Thursday his condition had improved somewhat. Both were treated in hospital. It was initially unclear how the crime happened in the schoolyard of the Neukölln Evangelical School on Mainzer Straße and what the background was.
The alleged perpetrator was arrested at the scene. A spokeswoman for the Senate Department for Education said on Wednesday evening that a single perpetrator was assumed. The act was neither politically nor religiously motivated. The two injured girls are not related. According to the newspaper “B.Z.” the suspect had no relationship with his victims.
From the point of view of the Senate, the act was an “absolute isolated case and a tragedy”. Protection against attacks, as good as it can be guaranteed at all, is very good in Berlin schools. According to the current status, however, the case could not have been prevented. The staff at Berlin schools are trained for emergencies of this kind. “A residual risk can never be ruled out,” said a spokeswoman.
Other students were eyewitnesses to the crime, the spokeswoman said. The attack took place in the afternoon care while the children were playing in the schoolyard. The school is now open on Thursdays and Fridays as a “meeting place”. However, schooling is not compulsory. Intervention teams made up of psychologists, therapists and pastors are deployed.
