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Duisburg: Forensics at the crime scene
Photo: Christoph Reichwein / dpa
According to investigators, the Duisburg knife attacker was stopped and disarmed by his own father.
The 69-year-old held his son until the police arrived, reports the dpa news agency.
Accordingly, the 21-year-old was visiting his father and then attacked the two children.
It was said that he first stabbed a nine-year-old girl and then a ten-year-old boy.
A passerby shouted at the attacker and threw a flashlight at him so that he would let go of the children.
Appointment with the judge
The attacker then attacked this witness.
Then the father of the alleged perpetrator came along and was able to stop his son.
Before his arrest, the young man is said to have told his father about information on his cell phone that would explain the crime.
The 21-year-old is scheduled to appear before a judge this Thursday on charges of attempted murder.
There was no evidence of a politically motivated act, it said.
The police and public prosecutor's office want to officially comment on the case later in the day.
The two victims were out of danger, a police spokesman said on Thursday night.
The crime occurred on Wednesday around twelve o'clock in the middle of a street in a residential area in the Marxloh district of Duisburg.
According to the police, both children were able to escape to a Catholic elementary school two blocks away after the attack.
A teacher came to their aid there.
wit/dpa