# 2021 Würzburg stabbing

The 2021 Würzburg stabbing occurred on 25 June 2021 in Würzburg, Germany. Abdirahman Jibril, a 24-year-old homeless man of Somalian nationality killed three civilians with a kitchen knife in a Woolworth store and wounded seven others. Minutes later, the police shot the suspect in his leg and arrested him. He had a history of several violent altercations since his 2015 arrival as an asylum seeker in Germany and a one day involuntary commitment into a psychiatric hospital a month before the attack. Islamist motives were suspected; he himself said the attack was 'his jihad'. Another refugee accused him to be an al-Shabaab member, who had killed civilians, journalists and police officers in Somalia, which German authorities could not confirm.

## Attack

On 25 June 2021, at about 17:00 local time, a barefoot man entered a Woolworth shop in Barbarossaplatz in central Würzburg, Bavaria, Germany. He asked the shop assistant in which part of the store the knives were displayed. There, he grabbed a large knife from the kitchen section, wounding the shop assistant. Then he started a stabbing spree, killing three customers around the shop and wounding three more. The attacker then went out of the shop, and knifed more civilians in a street and outside a bank, wounding three people. An Iranian Kurdish asylum seeker, a German soldier and a waiter confronted him defending themselves with objects, some of which were thrown at the attacker. Responding police officers then cornered the suspect in Oberthürstraße, opened fire against the knifeman, wounding him in the thigh and arresting him.

## Victims

Three people were killed in the attack and seven more were wounded. The deceased were all women, and were all killed in the first stabbing at the shop. They were identified as an 82-year-old, who was killed while defending a child whom the attacker tried to stab; A 49-year-old German-Brazilian citizen, Christiane H., who moved to Germany in early 2021 and was killed while defending her 11-year-old daughter; and a 24-year-old who was killed while buying a dress at the shop for her friend's wedding. Of the seven wounded, four were women, one a female child, one a male teenager and the other a female teenager; two were in critical condition.

## Suspect

The suspect was identified as a 24-year-old man of Somalian nationality named Abdirahman Jibril A. Born in Mogadishu, he arrived in Italy as an asylum seeker in early 2015 and moved to Germany in May 2015.
He lived in Saxony as a regular resident from 2015 until 2019. His first violent altercation in Germany was in 2015, when he wounded a migrant during a fight. He was not, however, charged with a crime.
In 2018, Jibril and another man claimed they were attacked by neo-Nazis in Chemnitz.
In 2019, he had drawn the attention of authorities due to violent altercations, and had been forced into a psychiatric hospital a month before the attack, after he stopped a random car in the street and sat in it. However, he was discharged a day later as no mental illness was diagnosed. In September 2019, he was moved to a homeless shelter in Würzburg. In January 2021, he threatened a shelter staff member and other asylum seekers with a knife.
Months prior, another Somali asylum seeker denounced Jibril A. to the German authorities, saying that he was "an al-Shabaab member, who killed civilians, journalist and police officers in Somalia". After this claim, an investigation was opened, but it could not confirm the allegation.
There is no evidence of an accomplice, and the perpetrator appears to have operated alone.
On 22 April 2022, Jibril A. was charged with murder, attempted murder and assault. The defence attorney said Jibril A. was going through a stage of psychosis and was convinced to perform the stabbing through auditory hallucination.

## Motive

As of June 29, 2021, the motive for the attack had not been officially confirmed, however police suspected Islamic extremism. The Woolworth's store detective, some police officers and a number of witnesses reported hearing the attacker shout ʾAllāhu ʾakbar while committing the attack, and after the arrest he said that the attack was 'his jihad'.
A police spokesman said that, while the attacker had a criminal record, none of his previous offences were related to terrorism. Investigators who checked his room for more evidence had not found any Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's material or religious extremist slogans.
As of June 29, 2021, police were also investigating if his release from psychiatric care was premature; however the suspect had not been diagnosed with a mental disorder.

## Aftermath

Memorial services were held in Würzburg. The citizens who attempted to disarm the attacker were celebrated in the press as heroes. There have been calls for one of them—a Kurdish asylum seeker—to be given German citizenship.