Police in Germany are still searching for a motive as they investigate a man who attacked several people at a private European Championship party in a small town.
The incident happened on Friday night in Wolmirstedt, in the central state of Saxony-Anhalt.
Police said a 27-year-old man broke into a single-family home and attacked several people who had gathered in the courtyard to watch the Euro 2024 opening game between Germany and Scotland.
He stabbed several people with a “knife-like object,” police said.
The attacker, an Afghan national, seriously injured a 50-year-old woman and a 75-year-old man. A 56-year-old man was slightly injured.
After the police arrived, the perpetrator allegedly attacked the police officers. Police responded with gunfire and the man later died in hospital.
Before the stabbings at the football party, police said the attacker killed a 23-year-old man in an apartment building not far away. The man, also an Afghan national, died from his injuries in hospital that night. The relationship between the perpetrator and the victim was not revealed by the police.
It is important to “further clarify” the man’s motives, District Attorney Frank Baumgarten said on Sunday. He said there would be extensive questioning of witnesses and people who knew the attacker.
As things stand, Baumgarten said he saw no evidence that the shots fired by two police officers at the assailant were illegal.
Wolmirstedt has around 12,000 inhabitants and is located north of the city of Magdeburg.
Neighbors initially think that the shots fired by the police were fireworks fired during the football match.
“We’re still pretty shocked,” said a neighbor who was watching the game on television when he heard the gunfire.
“The second goal had just been scored, we thought someone had let off a rocket of joy,” said the man. When they looked out the window, they saw the police and a man lying near the garage.
