BERLIN (AP) — A man armed with a machete was overpowered and arrested after he threatened to kill officers at a police station in western Germany early Friday morning, prosecutors said. Detectives said they believe he had an Islamic extremist motive.
The 29-year-old Albanian citizen arrived at the police station in the town of Linz am Rhein, between Koblenz and Bonn, at around 2:40 a.m. Prosecutors said he repeatedly shouted “Allahu akbar” — “God is great” in Arabic — and said he wanted to kill police officers.
Police officers on guard locked the door to the police station and the entrance to the courtyard. The suspect tried to force them open but failed, prosecutors said in a statement. Special Forces officers were called to the scene and subdued him with a stun gun.
Investigators searching the suspect’s apartment found an Islamic State flag on the wall.
The incident in Koblenz follows a shooting on August 23 knife attack in the western city of Solingen where a suspected extremist from Syria is accused of killing three people. A man killed in a gunfight The collision with police officers at the Israeli consulate in Munich on Thursday is also said to have been radicalized.
