By BERLIN — Police have arrested a 19-year-old Syrian man suspected of attacking a 30-year-old Spanish national at Berlin’s Holocaust memorial on Friday, just two days before the country’s national elections.
The attack happened Friday evening, with the attacker approaching the victim from behind before stabbing him and fleeing the scene.
Authorities said Saturday that, based on statements made by the accused to the police, the suspect had been planning to “kill Jews” for several weeks. The suspected murder weapon was in his backpack.
Police said they are examining possible connections to the current conflict in the Middle East.
The victim of the attack suffered “life threatening injuries,” according to the police, but was “no longer in danger.”
Officers were called to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe at 6 p.m. local time, where a male Spanish tourist, 30, had serious but non-threatening stab wounds to his upper body, Florian Nath, lead spokesperson for the city’s police department, told NBC News at the scene.
He added the weapon was “something very sharp that could cause severe injuries to your upper body,” such as a knife or a screwdriver.
The site comprises 2,711 concrete slabs on a site across the street from the U.S. Embassy and near the Brandenburg Gate. Six other people were traumatized after witnessing the attack and were recovering in the care of officers, they said.
That triggered a manhunt of 80 to 100 plainclothes and uniformed officers searching this city of almost 4 million people.
“Very often the suspects returned to the crime scene, and in this case, it was like that,” Nath said.
Police said Saturday that police arrested the suspect after noticing his “blood-stained hands and blood-stained trousers.”
As the suspect was being put into a police vehicle, two officers held up a white sheet to protect his identity.
The site was surrounded by emergency vehicles, including police vans and a fire engine with a cherry picker shining light onto the scene below where investigators carried out their work.
In the run-up to the election, Germany has been hit with a spate of high-profile attacks. It has given a heated atmosphere to the vote, particularly around the debate on immigration.
Though scholars say the crime rate in Germany is actually decreasing, the incidents have deeply shocked the country during the campaign. The far-right, anti-migrant Alternative for Germany party has pointed to these attacks to support its calls for a mass deportation scheme and restricted borders.
White House adviser and billionaire owner of X Elon Musk reposted a video of the scene on his platform, under which the original poster had written “Europe is a totally unsafe place nowadays.” In his repost, Musk reiterated his statement that “only AfD can save Germany.”
