Germany: Iranian Knife Attacker Shot Dead by Police

It’s an all-too-familiar story in Europe these days. Some asylum-seeker or migrant goes on a knife-wielding rampage and has to be taken down by police. Today’s German press is reporting that in the Franconian (Bavaria) town of Lauf-an-der-Pegnitz, a 34-year-old Iranian guy went after three cops with a knife at the train station on Sunday. One of the cops, a female, shot the attacker dead.

Coincidentally, Lauf-an-der Pegnitz is a small village located between Nuremberg and Erlangen. During my army years stationed in Erlangen in the 1960s, I rode the train through this train station countless times riding between the two cities.

The below article from today’s Welt is translated by Fousesquawk.

 https://www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/article252280484/Messerangriff-in-Lauf-an-der-Pegnitz-Polizei-erschiesst-Angreifer-Taeter-ist-polizeibekannter-Iraner.html

Germany  Knife attack in Bavaria

Police shoot attacker-Perpetrator is Iranian known to police

Posted 18:11  Reading time 3 minutes.

Caption: At the train station in Lauf-on-the-Pegnitz in Bavaria, a 34-year-old man was shot after a knife attack on a federal police officer. Background (details) for the incident still unclear.

In Lauf-on-the-Pegnitz near Nuremberg, a federal policewoman shot a 34-year-old who had just attacked three officers with a knife. He died at the scene. What is known about the incident up to now. 

First Mannheim, now Lauf-on-the-Pegnitz. Once again, a man has attacked people with a knife in public. In Lauf-on-the-Pegnitz, the attacks were against three officers of the federal police. One officer shot the perpetrator.

According to police, the alleged attacker first went after a federal police patrol car. According to DPA (German Press Agency) information, he shook the vehicle door- with no knife visible. When the three officers got out of the vehicle, he reportedly attacked them with a knife.

Security sources say that the officers first used pepper spray. When that had no effect, according to media reports, the policewoman then fired a shot in the air.

When that failed to (deter) the alleged attacker, she shot him. He was hit in the stomach. According to police, the officers immediately provided first aid, (and) later an emergency doctor arrived. However, they could not save him.

What is known about the attacker in Lauf-on-the-Pegnitz?

The man is a 34-year-old with Iranian nationality. According to German Press Agency information, the man was known to police prior to the incident. Among other things, he was known for resisting arrest.

Caption: Police cordons and emergency responders after the attack in Lauf-on-the-Pegnitz.

Where he lived, the prosecutor’s office was initially unable to answer. In addition, as to his residency status, there was initially no information from the Bavarian Interior Ministry. In an interview with Bavarian Radio, Interior Minister Joachim Hermann (CSU) referred (to him) as a refugee.

How are the three police officers?

The federal policewoman and both of her colleagues were uninjured in the attack. As to whether they could continue their duties or be put on leave during the investigation is not clear. The State Prosecutor’s Office referred questions (pertaing to) service regulations to the federal police, who referred them back to the State Prosecutor’s office.

What do investigators know about the background?

The motive for the crime was still not known the day after the attack. The State Prosecutor’s Office in Nuremberg and the Criminal Police have taken over the investigation. They will now evaluate the clues from the scene and question witnesses.

On that day in Lauf-on-the-Pegnitz, there was an Old Town festival and, accordingly,  many people were walking about. The investigators must also clarify how the (incident) occurred. Whether there was one or more shots fired, they could not immediately answer.

How are the reactions?

From the view of the Bavarian Police Union, the knife attack shows an example of the security situation in Germany. Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser and all responsible politicians must take more responsibility for internal security, the deputy chairman for federal police, Uwe Steinbrecher, demanded. “Enough with empty phrases – now actions are in order”.

Bavarian Interior Minister Hermann told Bavarian Radio that we must take the danger very seriously. “Here we must react concretely in each individual case,” for example, with proper sentences and deportation from Germany, according to Hermann.