Düsseldorf axe attack
# Düsseldorf axe attack

The 2017 Düsseldorf axe attack occurred when a 36-year-old asylum seeker from Kosovo attacked fellow passengers with an axe aboard a train on 9 March 2017. He injured nine persons on a train and continued in the main train station in Düsseldorf, Germany. He fled jumping from a bridge and injured himself severely. He was considered to be mentally ill without a connection to terrorism.

## Attack

The assailant was aboard a train when he suddenly began attacking fellow passengers with an axe. A fellow passenger managed to push him off the train, whereupon he attempted to get back on board by kicking and beating against the door. When he was unable to force the door open, he began attacking people in the central train station.

## Suspect

The suspect, a 36-year-old man identified by authorities as being an asylum seeker from Kosovo in the former Yugoslavia, who arrived in Germany in 2009, resided in Wuppertal. Sources describe the attacker as being from Kosovo, a disputed territory formerly part of Yugoslavia. Investigators see no indication that the suspect had a terrorist background.

The attacker fled the scene, then jumped from a nearby bridge while attempting to escape capture, injuring himself when he jumped. He was injured too severely to permit authorities to question him in the immediate aftermath of the attack.

Police described the attacker as a 2009 asylum seeker from Kosovo who suffered from a "psychological disorder." In October 2017, the perpetrator was declared incapable by court. He was permanently housed in a locked-ward psychiatry. Authorities did not see a connection to terrorism.

