A Syrian migrant has been arrested in Germany for a knife attack on a 4-year-old girl in a supermarket on Wednesday afternoon.
The attack occurred shortly before 3 p.m. at the Norma store on Zeppelinstrasse in the southern city of Wangen im Allgäu.
Eyewitnesses told police they saw a man suddenly approach the girl who was with her mother and stab her with a knife. There was no prior relationship between the man and his victim, the police confirmed.
Emergency responders were dispatched to the scene and tended to the victim who was transported to the hospital where she underwent immediate surgery. She is now understood to be in stable condition.
According to the police report, the 34-year-old suspect was arrested near the scene and is scheduled to be brought before a judge on Thursday.
An investigation by the Ravensburg Criminal Police Office is ongoing.
News outlet Junge Freiheit reported the man was disarmed by a bystander who restrained the attacker and called the police.
“He took the knife away from the man and then chased him,” a police spokeswoman told Bild on Thursday. “The witness called the police and told us where the man was. That’s how my colleagues were able to arrest him.”
The suspect is understood to be a Syrian national with a Dutch passport. It is unclear why he was in Germany or how long he had been in the country prior to the attack.
A police spokesperson did not confirm to journalists whether the suspect was already known to the police.
“The fact that a child is suddenly attacked is something that shocks us all and leaves us incredibly affected and dismayed,” Wangen Mayor Michael Lang said in response to the attack.
