Knife attack at Berlin school wounds 2 girls; suspect held

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This article was published 03/05/2023 (977 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BERLIN (AP) — Berlin police said that two young children were seriously wounded in a knife attack Wednesday at a school in the south of Germany’s capital, and a 38-year-old suspect was detained.

The girls, ages 7 and 8, were flown to a hospital. One of them had life-threatening injuries, according to a Berlin police statement.

The attack took place in the playground of the Protestant School in Berlin’s Neukoelln district, principal Thorsen Knauer-Huckauf said.

“The entire school community is deeply affected and shocked,” he said in a statement.

Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner condemned what he described as an “incomprehensible deed.”

“My thoughts in these difficult hours are with the two wounded girls,” he said. “I wish them a speedy and good recovery.”

Wegner expressed his sympathy to the parents, teachers and fellow pupils of the victims, and said he was in close contact with police about the attack.

The head of Berlin’s state education department said authorities don’t have any indication that there was a political or religious motive behind the attack.

Police declined to immediately provide further details about he suspect, saying only that he would be interviewed as part of a homicide investigation.

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This story has been corrected to show that the age of the detained suspect is 38, not 39, after police corrected their information.