In the center of Bielefeld, a man injured several people with a knife in the early hours of Sunday morning (18.05.2025). Police arrested a suspect in the town of Heiligenhaus on Monday evening. He is a 35-year-old Syrian who has been in Germany since August 2023 and has a temporary residence permit. Until now, he was not known to the police.
The suspect is suspected of stabbing several people who were celebrating in front of a cafe in the center of Bielefeld. According to information so far, at least five people between the ages of 22 and 27 were injured, four of them seriously. Police reported that the injured are no longer in danger.
According to information from German public broadcaster WDR, it is possible that the perpetrator has recently been radicalized and has shown interest in the terrorist organization Islamic State (IS). The police did not want to comment on this yet. WDR also has information that the police are assessing the crime in their internal analysis as a terrorist attack.
The suspect left a bag at the scene. It is suspected to have contained "personal documents, as well as a bottle of an unknown liquid that smelled of gasoline." Apparently, police also found knives, about which they did not want to give specific information.
In a press release, police said the background to the crime and the possible motive of the perpetrator are still unknown. "According to current knowledge, the suspect has been randomly attacking people," the report said, but the investigation is ongoing.
In its Tuesday (20.05.2025) issue, the German newspaper "Bild" cites data from crime statistics, according to which there are an average of 79 attacks per day in Germany. It is recalled that in 2024, the police in Germany recorded a total of 29,014 criminal offenses related to knife attacks, and that the number of serious knife injuries increased by 10.8 percent compared to the previous year.
Rainer Wendt (68), president of the German Police Union, told the Bild newspaper that "the threshold for violence is becoming lower and lower" and that knives are being pulled out "already in trivial cases and seemingly harmless arguments."
"Bild" also quotes Udo Vetter, a lawyer specializing in criminal law, who warns that "knives have become everyday companions for many people." He adds: "Young people in particular carry a knife in their pocket as if it were a mobile phone." That is why Rainer Wendt calls for preventive measures to start in schools./ DW (A2 Televizion)
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