Why did Ece S.* have to die? That is a question many people in Illerkirchberg (D) ask themselves. On Monday, the small community in Baden-Württemberg was shaken by the knife attack on the 14-year-old and her 13-year-old classmate.
Hundreds of people gathered at the crime scene in the evening and offered their condolences. The police are investigating at full speed. The attacker’s motive is still unclear.
Who are the victims?
Ece S. apparently has Turkish roots and, according to the police, was “a German with a migration background”. An acquaintance told the “image”: “She was so happy, dancing in a club.” Her father Mesut S.* works as a service provider and can be found in the business directory under exhibition activities.
Little is known about her boyfriend, who was seriously injured in the process. According to the public prosecutor’s office, she was so badly injured that her case may also involve attempted murder.
How did the attack come about?
The two girls were on their way to the bus together on Monday morning. From there, they wanted to go to secondary school in a different place. This could be the Albert Einstein high school in Wiblingen, a district of Ulm. The perpetrator would have come out of a house for no apparent reason and first hit Ece S. and then stabbed her.
“The girl was bleeding on the ground with a huge stab wound in her stomach,” an eyewitness reported to SWR.de. “The second girl had injuries under her chest, a stab wound. She was completely decomposed,” said the eyewitness.
What is known about the alleged perpetrator?
The man from Eritrea (27) has been arrested. According to media reports, he is said to be living in a local asylum seekers’ house. He is said to have fled there afterwards, and moments later a special task force stormed the building. The police would have found a knife on the suspect that could be the murder weapon. In the attack, the young man was apparently seriously injured and required emergency surgery, investigators told Focus.de.
He has lived in Germany since 2016 and his residence permit is valid until 2023. He was only caught once without a ticket and was not guilty of anything else, it was said. He is currently in a hospital under police surveillance.
Did the victim and the perpetrator know each other?
This question is also still open. “Now the prosecutor’s office and the police are investigating why the two girls were attacked and whether the suspect and the two girls knew each other beforehand,” the authorities said, according to Welt.de. The suspect was questioned by the police. However, he did not provide any information about the case, a spokesman for the public prosecutor said on Tuesday.
The public prosecutor’s office is currently investigating whether an arrest warrant can be requested or whether there are indications of reduced or excluded criminal responsibility, which could possibly lead to placement in a psychiatric clinic, the German news agency reports. Authorities have ordered a forensic and psychiatric report. In addition, the autopsy of the body should provide more information.
* Name known