A 21-year-old man became the suspect of a homicide perpetrated with a machete in Reutlingen, Germany. The suspect is a Syrian refugee who seeks asylum in the European country but is now facing charges due to the accusations that he killed a woman and injured two other people with a machete.
The attacks were reported on Sunday around 4:30 p.m. and the local police department responded immediately and arrested the suspect in the area where the confrontation took place: a bus station in the south part of Reutlingen.
Who is the attacker?
German authorities decided not to reveal the identity of the subject, at least not yet. He had a previous record of minor violence, according to the police, he was involved in incidents where people got injured.
Even though there is a relevant alarm state across Europe, due to recent terrorist activity, this event, after being investigated, has been categorized as an isolated case of violence that does not represent any danger to anyone else.
However, acts of violence in the country have been constant lately. In just ten days, three acts of violence against civilians have been perpetrated in Germany.
The victim
The suspect apparently was alone when he started to attack two women and men, and one of the ladies died later due to the severity of her wounds. The woman who was killed, according to local media, worked at an Arab food service near the bus station where she was attacked. The motive for the killing has not been determined yet by the authorities.
Some witnesses declared to Reuters and local media in Germany that the attacker seemed to be out of his mind and even tried to run towards a police vehicle violently and with the machete still in hands.
Syrian refugees in Germany
A considerable amount of Syrian citizens that entered Germany as refugees as somehow “trapped” in the European Country, due to the legal structure that receives them there. The German government has stated through different representatives that they can not send Syrians back home since the brutal civil war that is taking place in that territory ends since is a major concern for the country sending people who went there seeking asylum to a declared war zone.
This policy translates into real impossibility to go to Syria; there are no flights from Germany to Syrian territory. However, lots of Syrian are stuck in a complicated situation, though, even they are seeking asylum in Western Europe, they need to take care of their family members that are still in Syrian, but are unable to go there.
“I came here only for the future of my children. If they are not here, it makes no sense for me to be here” said a Syrian refugee in Germany that preferred not to reveal his name, but who is part of a considerable amount of Syrians who are asking permission to leave the country and return to Syria to look for their families.
Last year, more than 400,000 Syrians refugees arrived in Germany, and most of them already received asylum or are still waiting to achieve that status legally. The suspect of the murder perpetrated with the machete was one of those who were in the (sometimes months-taking) process to receive asylum in the European giant.
Source: Wall Street Journal