30 children witnessed Berhan S. (38) climbing over the fence of the school in Mainzer Straße in the Neukölln district of Berlin – and stabbing two girls (7 and 8 years old) several times with a kitchen knife.
Berhan S. confessed his crime to the investigators. When he was arrested, he still had the murder weapon with him and was under the influence of drugs. Now it turns out. He is well-known to the police.
According to Sebastian Büchner, spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office in Berlin, S. had a long history of drug use and was already known to the police for various offences. There had been conspicuities in public in recent years, but nothing significant, Büchner said on Thursday. “There were no findings that he was prone to violent acts.”
According to information from the newspaper WELT, S. has a record of bodily harm and dangerous bodily harm, insult,fare evasion, narcotics offences and damage to property. Some of the offences, however, were committed more than ten years ago.
The police do not assume that S. knew the children. It was rather a “coincidental act”, “a chance meeting in this schoolyard”, said Büchner. The yard was freely accessible. “He simply entered the schoolyard.”
According to information from the newspaper BILD, the perpetrator had climbed over the fence of the building on Mainzer Straße at around 3.10 p.m. and attacked the children at the table tennis tables in the schoolyard – after calmly smoking a cigarette beforehand.
According to Büchner, Berhan S. injured an eight-year-old girl “acutely life-threatening” by stabbing her in the neck and severely injured a seven-year-old girl by stabbing her several times. In the meantime, the eight-year-old girl was no longer in “acute danger of death”.
When arrested by the police on Wednesday, the man “gave the impression of being unhinged”. The man was possibly mentally ill, and drug use could also play a role. The prosecution has requested that the man be taken to a psychiatric hospital instead of being remanded in prison.
“He will be brought before an investigating judge today to obtain a warrant for committment attempted manslaughter and dangerous bodily harm.”