The suspect in the recent knife attack at Hamburg’s central train station was released from a psychiatric hospital on the day before the stabbing, officials said on Sunday.
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The 39-year-old woman had been treated in a psychiatric institution in the northern German city of Cuxhaven for three weeks after she was found in a state of helplessness in early May, a spokesman for the Health Ministry in the state of Lower Saxony said.
The woman, a German national, was detained on Friday evening after allegedly stabbing people at random at the busy transport hub, injuring 18 people.
She has admitted to the act in front of a magistrate, a spokeswoman for prosecutors said on Sunday.
The suspects, who comes from the northern state of Lower Saxony, has been known to police since 2021, a spokesman for the state Interior Ministry said.
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“She appeared at police stations several times, showing clear signs of mental illness,” the spokesman said.