Four patients at a German care centre for the disabled have been stabbed to death and a fifth seriously injured in what police called an ‘extremely violent attack’.
A 51-year-old woman, thought to be a member of staff at the Oberlin Clinic in Potsdam, near Berlin, has been arrested ‘under strong suspicion’ of carrying out the attack on Wednesday night.
Police were called around 9pm by the suspect’s husband after she arrived home and told him that she had killed people, local newspaper Tagesspiegel reports.
The dead are two men and two women, German media added, two of whom had been in care since childhood and some of whom were so severely disabled they needed help to breathe at night.
Four patients at a German clinic for disabled people have been stabbed to death and a fifth severely wounded after they were attacked on Wednesday night
A 51-year-old woman, thought to be an employee of the Oberlin Clinic, was arrested ‘under strong suspicion’ of carrying out the attack, police said
The fifth victim, who is now being treated in hospital, is a woman.
Police told Tagesspiegel that the perpetrator had taken a ‘brutal approach’ to the killings, and had used a knife.
Tina Mäueler, the residential manager at Oberlin, told Bild that two of the victims had lived in the facility since childhood but did not give their current ages.
The woman has been arrested on suspicion of ‘intentional homicide’, officers added, but said the motivation for the attack is not yet known.
Police have also not released information on the exact course of events, or how exactly the attack was carried out.
Prosecutors said forensic teams are now scouring the site for evidence, but that no further details will be released until the families of the victims have been informed.
Officers said support is also being offered to staff, who are thought to have been deeply affected.
The attack is thought to have taken place on the top floor of a dormitory building known as Thusnelda-von-Saldern-Haus, reports local newspaper Potsdamer Neueste Nachrichten.
The site called the attack ‘probably the most serious homicide in Potsdam for decades’,
Police were called to the clinic around 9pm Wednesday and found the victims suffering ‘severe external use of force’
The Oberlin Clinic is a campus of care facilities that cares for people with severe disabilities, located in Potsdam near the German capital of Berlin
Matthias Fichtmüller, head of theology at the clinic, said staff have not yet had time to mourn the tragedy, which has ‘knocked our legs from under us’.
A statement released by the facility said: ‘Oberlin stands for self-sacrificing care by people for people. That makes yesterday’s deed all the more incomprehensible.
‘During this difficult time, we will stand by the side of the clinic, its patients, residents and employees.
‘All of our concern and our sympathy goes to the relatives of those affected.
‘Our condolences also go to the other residents who now have to live with the loss and to our colleagues in the Thusnelda-von-Saldern-Haus in Oberlin Lebenswelten.
‘Our prayers continue to go to the resident who was seriously injured tonight.’
According to the Oberlin Clinic’s website, more than 400 staff work at the site including 80 employed at the Saldern-Haus, though most would not have been there at the time of the attack.
The Oberlin Clinic specialises in helping those with disabilities, offering live-in care on a campus that includes housing, schools, and workshops.