At least seven people were injured after a “mentally disturbed” man with an ax began swinging an ax in a crowd of travelers at the Hauptbahnhof Train Station, the main station in Dusseldorf, Germany.
Three of the victims were seriously wounded. There were no deaths. The attacker, age 36, was described as being from the former Yugoslavia and currently a resident of nearby Wuppertal. He also was seriously injured and was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was treated. He was also placed under arrest by police.
Amok-Alarm in Düsseldorf – Axt-Angriff am Hauptbahnhof https://t.co/HXOkIQPQ15 pic.twitter.com/LkJhu6Btv8
— BILD (@BILD) March 9, 2017
Heavily armed special ops police moved in quickly to protect civilians and to capture the attacker when he jumped into the crowd standing on the platform waiting for a train, swinging an ax.
Police later said the suspect “appears to have had psychological problems.”
German authorities said the motive was not yet known. “We are not using the words ‘rampage’ or ‘terror,’ said the federal police spokesperson.
A station attendant was quoted by the German magazine Bild, as saying: “We were standing on the track, waiting for the train. The train came, and suddenly someone jumped out with an ax [and] hit the people. There was blood everywhere. I have experienced a lot, but I have never experienced [anything like] it.”