BERLIN Prosecutors said Friday they have charged a student with 37 counts of attempted murder for a drunken knife rampage in the German capital.
The 17-year-old also faces charges of armed robbery and causing bodily harm, after allegedly attacking more than 40 revelers making their way home from the festive May 26 opening of Berlin's new train station. The teenager, whose name was not released, was in pretrial custody, after officers arrested him, ending a 90-minute burst of random violence that created chaotic scenes as emergency workers struggled to reach victims among the crowds. The accused, who was 16 at the time, used a folding knife to stab at a total of 37 people, Berlin state prosecutor Michael Grunwald said in a statement. Of those, 31 suffered wounds to the upper body, two were wounded in the thigh. The knife failed to penetrate the clothing of three people, and one woman escaped injury because a pendant blocked the blade. Eight people suffered life-threatening injuries to the stomach, lungs and kidneys. One victim informed police that he was HIV positive. Tests have found no indication that others were then infected from blood on the knife blade, the statement said. The accused also allegedly assaulted six people and stole a mobile telephone from another at knifepoint, prosecutors said. The youth was heavily drunk and insists that he remembers nothing about the alleged knife attacks, prosecutors said. No date has been set for his trial before a Berlin youth court.
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