A major police operation in the town centre of Viersen that lasted several hours had a relatively mild outcome. Nobody was injured.
A man had tried to injure another person with a knife in a shopping centre (photo). He also threatened visitors to the shopping centre. The suspect, a 33-year-old man from Viersen with Kosovan roots, was provisionally arrested shortly before 10 pm.
‘The police were called at around 5.30 p.m. because there was a threatening situation involving a knife in the Löhcenter’, explained a police spokeswoman after the incident. An initially unknown man had threatened a visitor to the Löhcenter with a knife. This also resulted in an attempted dangerous assault. The man then left the shopping centre. The officers deployed asked visitors to the Löh-Center to leave the shopping centre and cordoned off the area.
‘We deployed large forces to search for a possible suspect’, the spokesperson continued. Police service dogs were also deployed. The police called in support from a special task force. ‘Following information from witnesses, a 33-year-old man from Viersen was suspected’, said the police spokeswoman.
The special task force overpowered the suspect in his flat and provisionally arrested him and another man in the flat. During the search, officers seized a knife in the flat.
According to the current state of the investigation, the police have ruled out both a terrorist and a possible xenophobic background. It is still unclear why the man threatened with a knife in the shopping centre. The spokeswoman explained: ‘The investigation into the background is ongoing.’
A rescue helicopter that landed near the scene shortly before the attack had nothing to do with the operation itself, according to the police.
Four years ago, there had already been a major police operation at the Löhcenter. A bomb threat was made in July 2020. At the time, the police cordoned off a large area of the shopping centre; a bomb was not found.
Viersen: SEK überwältigt Tatverdächtigen nach Bedrohungslage in Einkaufszentrum (rp-online.de)