The message from the laboratory of the NRW State Criminal Police Office confirmed the suspicion of the Duisburg murder commission. The experts had found DNA hits on the shoes of the stabber from the fitness club near the town hall. The evidence showed that the Syrian Maan D., 26, had committed serious capital crimes twice in the past few weeks.
First victim stabbed in the old town
First of all, the bearded migrant is said to have stabbed a 35-year-old man in the old town of Duisburg early on Easter Sunday. Irfan D. had celebrated a birthday with acquaintances, some of them outside on the street. During the night he disappeared briefly to have a go. When the party guest didn’t come back, his friends went looking for him. They found the man in his mid-thirties badly injured. Shortly thereafter, the victim bled to death due to numerous knife wounds and cuts.
Second crime at the gym
Nine days later, Maan D. is said to have struck again. That Tuesday afternoon he snuck into the John Reed gym near City Hall. In the dressing room, he randomly stabbed four visitors to the club. The attacker disappeared without a word. Around 5:18 p.m., the first emergency calls were received by the police. “Initially everything looked like an amok attack,” reported NRW Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) on Thursday in the Interior Committee of the state parliament in Düsseldorf.
The police launched a large-scale operation. A helicopter flew over the area around the crime scene in search of the fugitive. A hundred squad combed the surrounding streets – without success. 400 police officers were deployed in a special organizational structure. 122 witnesses were cared for and questioned in a neighboring restaurant, Reul said.
Crucial information from the surveillance camera
Due to a lack of video material from the fitness club, the investigators resorted to surveillance cameras from the area. There they found the man they were looking for. These images gave them the crucial clues from neighbors about the suspects.
In the storming of his apartment in in the old town, a special task force deployed a police dog. The animal bit the suspect’s forearm. Interestingly, Maan D. showed no reaction. In addition to two possible crime knives, the investigators found evidence of Islamist sentiment. According to FOCUS online information from security circles, this is indicated by written jihadist sentences in Arabic, which agitate against the infidels in this country.
In addition, image files were found on the cell phone, including references to the terrorist militia “Islamic State” (IS). The murder investigators have not yet discovered any indications of concrete plans for the attack.
The officers also found shoes with suspicious traces of blood. According to research by FOCUS online, the LKA found DNA hits from the murdered Irfan D. and several victims from the gym on the suspect’s shoes.
The thesis of the gunman
Prosecutors have not yet decided on the motive. Maan D. remains silent after his arrest. There are currently two investigative theses in the room: either the Syrian refugee is still suffering from traumatic experiences from the war in his homeland and has drifted into the militant Islamist track. Then an amoktat would be considered.
In 2016, Maan D. entered Germany as a 19-year-old migrant. As was learned, he justified his application for asylum with the fear of being drafted by the Syrian military.
The alleged killer is to be examined for his mental state these days. In the seven years since the accused has been living here, he has not been on record for any psychiatric abnormalities. Not because of extremist activities either. In 2018, Maan D. only committed two small-scale scams.
Islamist lone wolf?
Scenario 2: A terrorist lone wolf carries out a series of attacks without external instructions. “The high abstract level of risk regarding Islamist attacks in Germany still exists,” Interior Minister Reul explained. Accordingly, the IS and other Islamist groups such as Al Qaeda have been calling for knife attacks by lone perpetrators for years. “It’s the simplest attack scenario,” said the CDU politician.
There’s a lot in the case that he can’t get his head around: Why does the accused actually first walk into the changing room of a fitness studio and not commit his crime in the entrance area or in some other public place such as a train station? “That doesn’t really fit into an attack scenario,” mused Reul.
Also, the fact that Maan D. left the gym without attacking anyone else would be unusual for a gunman or Islamist terrorist.
“Ticking Time Bomb”
The political reactions after the speech in the Committee on Internal Affairs varied. From the ranks of the opposition, FDP deputy faction leader Marc Lürbke was concerned: “People with mental problems who are radicalizing here are ticking time bombs.” “It must also be fully clarified whether this man has not committed further crimes.”
His colleague from the CDU, Gregor Golland, said: “The case once again proves the threat from the militant Islamist scene. We need to start better screening the people who come to us as immigrants for security risks.”
