by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Europe Bureau Chief
BERLIN (Worthy News) – Germany is in shock after an 18-year-old woman was reportedly killed when she was grabbed by a 25-year-old man from South Sudan on a subway platform in the city of Hamburg and thrown in front of an oncoming train. The man also died in the horrific incident late Thursday, officials said.
There were no indications that the two knew each other, and it appeared that the young woman, an Iranian, was a randomly chosen victim, according to investigators.
Witnesses said the man “may have been drunk” while walking back and forth along the platform at the Wandsbek Markt subway station. When the train entered the station, he was standing next to the young woman, suddenly grabbed her, and threw himself with her in front of the vehicle, according to bystanders.
Both the attacker and the woman ended up underneath the subway train and died at the scene, German media reported. Witnesses have been offered psychological support following the late Thursday incident, Worthy News learned.
Hamburg prosecutors said late Friday that the man was known to justice authorities for “various criminal offenses,” without specifying the nature of the crimes.
REFUGEE BACKGROUND RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT ATTACKER
Germany’s respected Die Zeit newspaper said the man had been living in Hamburg since mid-2024. He had reportedly fled the war in South Sudan and ended up in a refugee camp in Kenya.
Under a program for refugees, he was deemed by the United States to be in “special need of protection” and subsequently brought to Germany. The German government is no longer participating in this program.
Authorities have not yet clarified what motivated the deadly attack, and police have provided few details about the man’s background beyond confirming that the investigation is continuing.
The case has triggered renewed debate in Germany about public safety, mental health, and the screening of migrants entering the country under humanitarian resettlement programs.
Thursday’s attack came after this week’s revelations that a 40-year-old woman who in May last year stabbed fifteen people at Hamburg’s central station and attempted to attack six others will be placed in Germany’s equivalent of involuntary psychiatric detention.
HAMBURG STABBING CASE HIGHLIGHTS MENTAL HEALTH CONCERNS
The court found her guilty of 21 counts of attempted manslaughter and 15 counts of causing serious bodily harm.
The judge also ruled that she must undergo compulsory psychiatric treatment for an indefinite period. The woman had previously been treated 32 times for psychiatric problems and had attacked her father with an axe earlier that year, authorities announced.
She had been released from a psychiatric clinic just one day before she began stabbing waiting passengers on the platform.
German officials say both the subway killing and last year’s mass stabbing underscore growing concern about unpredictable violence in public spaces and the challenges authorities face in preventing such tragedies.
Investigations into the Hamburg subway deaths remain ongoing as the city mourns yet another shocking loss of life.
Thursday’s attack was expected to further fuel debate about Germany’s migration policies and the influx of millions of migrants and refugees who have entered the country in recent years.
Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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