Berninaplatz: Man injures three children in Zurich-Oerlikon – now in custody

As the police announced on Tuesday afternoon, a man in District 11 attacked several children with a stabbing weapon and injured three of them. The alleged perpetrator, a 23-year-old Chinese man, was arrested without resistance and taken to a police station. There is no further danger to the population, the statement continues.

According to initial findings, a childcare center employee was out with the children for lunch at a daycare center near Berninaplatz when the attack suddenly occurred. According to a police report, the after-school care worker was able to overpower the attacker with the help of another man. They held the alleged perpetrator until the emergency services arrived.

A boy was seriously injured

One boy was seriously injured in the incident and two others were moderately injured. The three children are all five years old. They were immediately given medical care on site and then taken to hospitals.

Several care teams were deployed to look after both the children and their parents. The after-school care worker was also looked after and interviewed by the police as a witness.

The background to the crime is currently unclear. The police are not releasing any information about the motive. “It is still far too early to say whether the perpetrator had a connection to the after-school care center,” police spokeswoman Judith Hödl told the media on site. Further investigations are now being carried out by the Zurich cantonal police and the responsible public prosecutor’s office.

The incident happened shortly after 12 p.m. on Berninastrasse. The police responded to the scene with several emergency vehicles. The specialists from the Zurich Forensic Institute and the Zurich Institute of Forensic Medicine were called in to carry out a comprehensive forensic investigation.

The area around the crime scene was cordoned off extensively between Berninastrasse, Oerlikonerstrasse, Schaffhauserstrasse and Mimosenstrasse. Residents could only get to their houses with police escort.

One of the buildings in the cordoned off area houses the city of Zurich’s daycare center with lunch and afternoon care, whose children were the victims of the attack.

Leutenegger: “It’s terrible, just terrible!”

City councilor Filippo Leutenegger, head of the Zurich school and sports department, was shocked by the incident in Oerlikon. What one hoped would never happen happened, he says when asked. “It’s terrible, just terrible.”

That someone would attack innocent children is unbelievable. He hopes the best for the injured children, their parents and the affected school staff. “We stand by them,” says the school principal.

He was unable to provide any information about the health status of the injured children. However, Leutenegger was very impressed by the after-school care worker, who was able to overpower and hold the attacker with the help of another man. “That deserves the greatest respect and gratitude,” says Leutenegger.

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