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Duisburg gym stabbing suspect linked to earlier killing

April 27, 2023

The 26-year-old suspect behind an attack in Duisburg that seriously injured four people is now also under investigation for a prior murder in the same city.

https://p.dw.com/p/4Qdzo
The 26-year-old man being escorted by police during his arrest
The 26-year-old man was an asylum-seeker from Syria with no prior criminal historyImage: Christoph Reichwein/dpa/picture alliance

Prosecutors in the German city of Düsseldorf said on Thursday that the suspect in a stabbing at a fitness studio the nearby city of Duisburg could be linked to an earlier murder.

In a statement, officials said the attack also took place in Duisburg in the early hours of April 9 and that DNA in blood from the scene had been linked to the suspect's shoes.

In the incident, a 35-year-old man received multiple stab wounds and died hours later.

The suspect is a 26-year-old Syrian, whom authorities have identified as M.D. due to German privacy rules protecting the identity of suspects. 

He was arrested at his apartment in Duisburg on Sunday, after being sought for the April 18 attack in the fitness studio in which four people were seriously injured. 

The night of the attack, M.D. entered the fitness studio and proceeded to the locker room, where he carried out stabbings and then calmly left the building, prosecutors said.

A manhunt followed, with police using street cameras and witness tipoffs to find him.

Four stabbed in a gym in Germany: DW's Joscha Weber reports

Motive still unclear

The 26-year-old is now in custody, facing attempted murder charges. Police are still investigating the fitness studio attack and seeking to find a motive for the crime. 

Initially, investigators believed that one of the victims in the stabbing had been specifically targeted. But earlier this week, prosecutors also said that a review of the suspect's cellphone indicated that "there may have been an Islamist motive."

Officials said the suspect arrived in Germany seven years ago and applied for asylum. 

"For seven years, he was inconspicuous, for seven years, nothing happened," NRW Minister of the Interior Herbert Reul told reporters on Thursday regarding the man's lack of criminal history.

Prosecutors are investigating whether the man radicalized over time, but they are also not ruling out potential psychological problems or whether a victim at the fitness studio was singled out. 

jcg/wd (dpa, AFP, AP)

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