BERLIN — Detectives launched a large-scale manhunt across Berlin on Friday after a stabbing at the city’s Holocaust memorial, two days before the country’s national elections.
Three hours after the incident, officers sweeping through streets near the scene came upon an unidentified man whose hands were covered in blood, police said. He surrendered without saying anything, Florian Nath, lead spokesperson for the city’s police department, told NBC News at the scene.
Police are treating him as the lone suspect and not looking for anyone else in connection with the attack, he added.
Officers were called to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe at 6 p.m. local time, where a male Spanish tourist, 30, had serious but non-threatening stab wounds to his upper body, Nath said. He added the weapon was “something very sharp that could cause severe injuries to your upper body,” such as a knife or a screwdriver.
The site comprises 2,711 concrete slabs on a site across the street from the U.S. Embassy and near the Brandenburg Gate. Six other people were traumatized after witnessing the attack and were recovering in the care of officers, they said.
That triggered a manhunt of 80 to 100 plainclothes and uniformed officers searching this city of almost 4 million people.
“Very often the suspects returned to the crime scene, and in this case, it was like that,” Nath said. “We arrested him immediately and found a lot of evidence he was carrying with him,” he said, declining to say what that evidence was but adding that he carried no ID.
As the suspect was being put into a police vehicle, two officers held up a white sheet to protect his identity.
The site was surrounded by emergency vehicles, including police vans and a fire engine with a cherry picker shining light onto the scene below where investigators carried out their work.
In the run-up to the election, Germany has been hit with a spate of high-profile attacks. It has given a heated atmosphere to the vote, particularly around the debate on immigration.
Though scholars say the crime rate in Germany is actually decreasing, the incidents have deeply shocked the country during the campaign. The far-right, anti-migrant Alternative for Germany party has pointed to these attacks to support its calls for a mass deportation scheme and restricted borders.
White House adviser and billionaire owner of X Elon Musk reposted a video of the scene on his platform, under which the original poster had written “Europe is a totally unsafe place nowadays.” In his repost, Musk reiterated his statement that “only AfD can save Germany.”
