After the knife attack at a primary school in Esslingen, Swabia, the 24-year-old suspect is to be brought before a magistrate on Saturday. The man is said to have seriously injured a seven-year-old girl and a 61-year-old caregiver with stitches on Friday.
The motive of the man with Dutch nationality was initially unclear, as the police reported on Saturday. The 24-year-old spoke to a passer-by in Stuttgart and asked him to alert the police because he was responsible for the crime in Esslingen, it said on Friday. The Dutch citizen from Esslingen was then arrested early Friday evening in Stuttgart without resistance.
The perpetrator attacked the woman and the seven-year-old child with a knife at the beginning of the holiday care and then fled, according to a police spokesman. The attack is said to have taken place in the entrance area of ​​the school. There were only a few children in the care. They would be given psychological care. “The woman and the girl are seriously injured and in a clinic,” said the police spokesman. But their lives were not in danger.
The 61-year-old and the child stayed at the closed school as part of the holiday care. The perpetrator was approached by an employee when he entered the school, the police said. But he didn’t react to that, but ran into the basement and attacked the girl and the supervisor there with a kitchen knife.
Witnesses had described the suspect as a 30 to 35 year old man wearing black jeans and a black top with white lettering. When searching around the school, officials found a knife, a police spokesman confirmed. Police later said it could be the murder weapon.
Children are currently being cared for at school during the Baden-Württemberg Pentecost holidays. After the crime, the school was cordoned off and police officers searched the building.
