Four minors from Syria and Ukraine were arrested on Friday following a brutal hammer attack on a 13-year-old boy at the central bus station in Lindau on the German shore of Lake Constance.
According to a statement from Bavaria Police, officers responded to the incident shortly after 10 p.m. following reports that several youths had assaulted a boy using emergency hammers stolen from a city bus.
When police arrived minutes later, the victim was found injured on the ground while the assailants had already fled.
“Each of the perpetrators kicked the victim while he was lying on the ground,” the authorities said.
“After several patrols from the Federal Police, the Border Police, and the Lindau Police participated in the search, four children were eventually identified as the perpetrators. During their escape, they hid behind the Lindau Criminal Investigation Department building and were subsequently taken to the Lindau Police Station.
“It was determined that the youngest perpetrator was only 11 years old, the oldest 13. They are a pair of brothers from Syria and two Ukrainians,” they added.
All of the suspects reside in Vorarlberg, across the border in Austria. They were ultimately handed over to parents, guardians, and a family crisis unit.
The victim, an Austrian boy of the same age, was taken to a hospital in Bregenz. Police said he is expected to make a full recovery.
Investigators believe the attack followed a verbal dispute involving one of the alleged perpetrators.
