The town of Illerkirchberg near Ulm has been shaken to the core. After two girls aged 13 and 14 were attacked on their way to school in the morning and the older of the two was fatally injured, the public prosecutor's office and police in Ulm have announced the first results of the investigation.
According to this, witnesses called the police at around 7.30 a.m. because a man had attacked the two students. "The 14-year-old had to be resuscitated at the scene after the attack before being taken to the hospital, where she died despite all medical efforts," authorities said. (Read more here). According to the information, the 13-year-old was also treated in the hospital, but was not in mortal danger. According to the police, both victims have German citizenship.
The attacker had come from the local refugee accommodation in the immediate vicinity of the crime scene before the crime and then fled back there, according to the investigators. The police searched the building with a special task force and arrested three residents from Eritrea.
She assumes that a 27-year-old attacked the two girls with a knife. The alleged murder weapon had been secured. It is not yet known what role the other two arrested persons might have played. The main suspect had been taken to a hospital because of his own injuries and was being guarded by the police there, it said. The three men were to be questioned, and the bodies of the dead youths were to be autopsied. The police and public prosecutor's office have not yet given any information on a possible motive for the bloody deed. The authorities also initially said nothing about possible criminal records and the residence status of the suspects.
A reporter from the DPA news agency learned that there were frequent problems with the residents of the accommodation.
The mayor of Illerkirchberg was shocked. The community with its almost 5,000 inhabitants is in shock, says Markus Häußler on Südwestrundfunk. The affected families will be supported. A 72-year-old resident told the DPA, "This is awful." Others laid flowers and lit candles near the crime scene.
Police stressed that they were aware that "events of this nature fuel fears and emotions". She asked "not to have any general suspicion against strangers, those seeking protection or asylum seekers in general or to encourage or support such suspicions".
A few years ago, the place in the Alb-Donau district was the scene of a serious crime: in 2019, a 14-year-old girl was raped several times in another refugee accommodation, four men were sentenced to prison terms of two years and three months by the Ulm district court in March 2021 or two years and two months, as the "Stuttgarter Zeitung" reported at the time.
Sources: Police headquarters and public prosecutor's office in Ulm, Südwestrundfunk, "Stuttgarter Zeitung", news agency DPA
