Shock in Germany

Knife attack at European Championship party: police shoot man dead

(Bild: Thomas Schulz/dpa)

A man attacked several people with a knife at a private soccer party near Magdeburg in Germany on Friday evening. Two people were seriously injured. When the man also attacked the police officers who had been alerted, he was shot dead by the officers.

A family in the town of Wolmirstedt in Saxony-Anhalt had invited people to a watch party for the opening match of the European Championship - Germany versus Scotland. Shortly after kick-off, an unknown man appeared in the courtyard and stabbed three soccer fans, as reported by the newspaper "Bild".

Prior to this, the attacker is said to have attacked and killed a young man with a knife in a prefabricated apartment, according to the Magdeburg public prosecutor's office. According to the Magdeburger Volksstimme newspaper, he then threatened people with a knife in a garden a short time later. Residents called the police.

Police shot attacker, he died in hospital
The man then stormed onto the opposite property and attacked the soccer fans there. When the police arrived a few minutes later, he also attacked the officers. "Firearms were used," a police spokeswoman was quoted as saying by Bild. According to the public prosecutor's office, the man later died in hospital as a result of the gunshot wounds.