An 18-year-old man from Weinheim in Baden-Württemberg has been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder. He is said to have plotted a knife attack on visitors to a synagogue in Heidelberg with another man, as the Stuttgart and Karlsruhe public prosecutor’s offices and the state criminal investigation department announced on Friday. ‘The killing of one or more visitors during the attack on the synagogue with a subsequent martyr’s death was discussed as the intended target, in which both people wanted to be shot by emergency services,’ the authorities said. The young man is reportedly an 18-year-old ethnic Turkish man living in Germany.
The background to the incident is a police operation in Bad Friedrichshall on May 3. The flat of a 24-year-old was searched that day on suspicion of preparing a serious act of violence endangering the state. According to the police, the 24-year-old suddenly took several kitchen knives during the search and fled outside through a window. The officers arrested him there.
Instead of putting the knives down, he threw a knife at an officer and ran towards him. The officer shot the man. The man is already in custody. He is also accused of attempted manslaughter and a particularly serious case of assault on police officers.
When the evidence was evaluated, a link was established with the 18-year-old man from Weinheim, with whom the 24-year-old is said to have discussed a possible knife attack on visitors to a synagogue in Heidelberg in April 2024, according to the investigators. The 18-year-old’s flat was searched on May 18, the man was arrested and is now in custody. There were no indications of an imminent threat to visitors to the synagogue.
Baden-Württemberg: Messerangriff von Synagoge geplant – Polizei verhaftet 18-Jährigen – WELT