German police arrest a suspect in the attack that injured 5 people outside a bar
Police and forensic investigators are on the scene following an attack in the western city of Bielefeld, Germany, Sunday May 18, 2025. (Christian M’ller/dpa via AP)
BERLIN (AP) — A suspect who allegedly attacked and injured five people outside a bar in the western German city of Bielefeld was arrested after a search of almost two days, German news agency dpa reported Tuesday.
“The detailed work paid off and we were able to arrest the surprised perpetrator,” the state interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, Herbert Reul, told dpa after an arrest of a man late Monday evening in the western town of Heiligenhaus near Düsseldorf.
According to police, the suspect is a 35-year-old Syrian living in Germany. Early Sunday, five men between 22 and 27 were attacked by a suspect wielding a sharp object outside a bar in downtown Bielefeld — four of them seriously.
Reul said that “after the shocking crime in Bielefeld” investigators had “picked up and pursued every last lead on the perpetrator” with all the resources available.
“Now we need answers as to what motive led the perpetrator to commit the crime,” the minister added.