One dead, three injured in rampage as German police shoot dead knifeman at Euro 2024 party

June 15, 2024

From Deutsche Welle and The London Evening Standard

Germany on high alert amid fears extremists could target the European football tournament

A man attacked several people at a private party to mark the opening of the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt, German media reported on Saturday.

Three people were injured in the stabbing in the town of Wolmirstedt, near Magdeburg, that took place on Friday as Germany played Scotland in the opening match.

Germany’s Bild (I couldn’t reach the whole story on the Bild Plus section of their website) newspaper cited police as saying the attacker rushed through a nearby allotment before entering the property where the party was taking place and stabbed attendees at random.

He launched his rampage in a garden where a family were hosting a private party in the city of Magdeburg to watch Germany’s 5-1 thrashing of Scotland.

At least three people were injured in the attack around 9.30pm on Friday night, with two – a woman aged 50 and a man 75 – suffering severe wounds. A second man, 56, was slightly injured.

Police have not yet released a statement as to the current condition of the victims.

According to local media reports citing police information, the perpetrator was an Afghan national.

A police spokeswoman said the attacker went for police officers on their arrival in Genossenschaftsweg in Wolmirstedt, Saxony-Anhalt. One officer drew his pistol and fatally shot him. “Firearms were used,” a police spokesperson told Bild on Saturday morning. “The perpetrator died in hospital.”

The knifeman is also suspected of murdering another man, aged 23 and also from Afghanistan, earlier in a high-rise building close to where the family party took place.

German police have set up a command centre in the city of Neuss in the Rhine region where counter-terror police from across the continent have gathered to work on ensuring safety in and around the Euros.

Earlier this month, police arrested a known Islamist at Cologne Airport on charges that he had transferred crypto currency to an Islamic state cell in Afghanistan. The suspect, identified only as Soufian T in line with German privacy laws, reportedly applied for jobs as a security guard at outdoor screenings of Euro 2024 matches, but his application was rejected based on a tip off from Germany’s domestic security agency.