A Woman, Previously Treated for Mental Health Issues, Stabs Passengers at a Hamburg Train Station
A woman, previously institutionalized for mental health reasons, has been accused of stabbing two people at Hamburg’s main train station. The incidents, which occurred in the months leading up to the attack, were confirmed by the Schleswig-Holstein Interior Ministry in response to a query by the Lübecker Nachrichten.
On January 5, a woman called the emergency services, reporting a physical altercation at a home in Großhansdorf and the police found two injured individuals, a 69-year-old man and a 71-year-old woman, with stab wounds. The suspect, a 39-year-old woman, was found at the scene and her behavior suggested she may have been in a state of psychological exception.
The Lübeck State Prosecutor’s Office took over the investigation and the woman was hospitalized in a psychiatric facility in Schleswig-Holstein. However, the authorities failed to share the woman’s mental health information with other German states, citing data protection regulations.
The woman was released from the facility in February after an incident at a Hamburg airport playground, where she was violent towards a six-year-old girl. She was then hospitalized again after an altercation with a fellow patient in the psychiatric facility. In May, she was found helpless in Cuxhaven and transferred to a psychiatric hospital near Bremerhaven.
The woman was released from the hospital on the previous Thursday, reportedly due to a lack of evidence to justify further institutionalization, just days before the attack at the Hamburg train station.