BERLIN (AP) – The German city of Würzburg held a memorial service on Sunday for the victims of a brutal knife attack that killed three women, while questions about the attacker’s possible motive remained unanswered.
Five other people were seriously injured in Friday’s attack inside and outside a store in the Bavarian city centre. The suspect, a 24-year-old Somali man, was shot in the leg by police as people surrounded him and tried to hold him with chairs and batons.
Investigators were still working on Sunday to figure out what was behind the attack, which they believe was a lone attacker. They are assessing his mental health and trying to find out if he was radicalized as an Islamic extremist. It was not clear whether he intentionally targeted women.
“We are all affected, because it can happen to anyone,” said Franz Jung, the Catholic bishop of Würzburg, at the service at the city’s cathedral. It was attended by relatives of the victims, regional Protestant bishops, representatives of the city’s Muslim communities, Germany’s main Jewish leaders, political leaders from Bavaria, and police and rescue officials.
Mayor Christian Schuchard warned that “the crimes of individuals should never be attributed or extended to ethnic groups, religions or nationalities,” adding that Somalis and refugees in general should not be blamed.
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On Sunday, flowers were piled up outside the nearby shop from where the attack started. The governor of Bavaria, Marcus Soeder, offered a wreath and described the attack as “simply incomprehensible, appalling, senseless”.
“We should never respond to such hateful acts with hatred or vengeance,” Soeder said. “I’ve been reading on the internet that some are saying, ‘It was someone with an immigrant background.’ Yes, but didn’t people with immigrant backgrounds help in the exact same situation?”
The suspect was sent to jail on Saturday due to possible indictment. The regional criminal police office said on Sunday that prison officials were informed that he may be in danger, news agency DPA reported.
