Man stabs three at Swiss train station, authorities call it terror act

A man stabbed and wounded three people at the train station in the Swiss city of Winterthur on Thursday morning before police arrested him. m. The suspect, a 31-year-old Swiss-Turkish dual national who lives in Winterthur, was taken into custody five minutes after emergency services were alerted, regional police chief Marius Weyermann said.

Weyermann stated the man had come to authorities’ attention in 2015 for distributing Islamic State propaganda. In recent days he was taken to a psychiatric facility after making confused comments during a call to the police emergency number, but he left on Wednesday after a doctor determined he was not dangerous.

Injuries and investigation Three Swiss men, ages 28, 43 and 52, were wounded.

The two younger victims were discharged or about to be released from hospitals by mid-afternoon, Weyermann said. The 52-year-old remained hospitalized after surgery for a thigh injury. Weyermann said investigators believe the suspect acted alone. Mario Fehr, the Zurich region’s top security official, described the attack as an evil act of terror.

Fehr added the suspect was born in Switzerland, gained Swiss citizenship in 2009, and had spent much of the last two years in Turkey. Winterthur has about 123,000 residents and lies in northeastern Switzerland near Zurich.