In Wangen, a village east of Stuttgart, a 27-year-old Afghan asylum seeker was fatally shot by police after he attacked officers with a knife, leaving one officer seriously wounded.
The incident occurred during an operation to execute a warrant for the man’s arrest for a past assault offense.
Police reported that when they arrived at the man’s home to serve the warrant, he suddenly pulled out a knife and attacked them without warning. One officer suffered multiple cuts in the attack and was seriously injured, though his life is not in danger.
In response, officers fired their weapons, hitting the man multiple times. Despite immediate resuscitation efforts, he died at the scene.
The area around the crime scene has been cordoned off, and authorities have stated there is no further danger to the public. The Ulm Public Prosecutor’s Office is leading the investigation.
Witnesses, like 78-year-old local resident Josefine Prell, reported hearing more than five shots, initially mistaking them for firecrackers.
Thomas Strobl, Baden-Württemberg’s interior minister, condemned the attack, stating, “In this country, you don’t attack a police officer with a knife.. Anyone who attacks a police officer with a knife risks their life.”
According to the German Police Union, this is the seventh time police in Baden-Württemberg have used firearms this year. Recent similar incidents include the shooting of a man who attacked officers with an axe in mid-April in the city of Hilzingen and another who pointed a gun at police just days earlier.
Just last month, Remix News reported on a wave of knife attacks involving foreigners, which showed that there are 79 knife attacks per day now recorded. A German criminal lawyer warns that Germany has “imported knife violence,” in response to growing blade crimes.
“We have imported knife violence. In other cultures, the knife is a kind of status symbol. This is changing the social climate here in the country,” stated criminal attorney Udo Vetter. He further notes that “knives have become an everyday companion for many people. And the barrier to using them is low.”
Afghans are especially involved in knife crime, and have also been involved in a number of high-profile attacks on police, including the stabbing murder of Officer Rouven L. in Mannheim last year by an Afghan Islamist. Just days after that incident, an Afghan migrant attacked an officer with a long knife in Stralsund.
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