Stabbing spree in Berlin, Germany

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rudolf

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We had a stabbing spree in Berlin. After a big public event, a drunk 16 year old ran through the mass of those leaving the event and randomly stabbed people. He managed to stab about 30 (not fully clear yet, maybe more) and did this for about 15 minutes (clear, but some report 16 minutes) before being stopped by police.

This event gives some things to think about:

In a big event (new train station opened, 100.000 visitors), someone can go berserk, and police stop it after 15 minutes or 30 stabbed. Thre was lots of police around. This should be considered by those relying on the police.

Most victims did NOT notice being stabbed, just being hit or pushed. Most of them later saw blood and reported to police/ambulance. This should be considered by those relying on knives.

Nobody ('civilian') tried to stop him. In Germany, there is no legal gun carrying, and the police always tell us not to be a hero. This should be considered by those who rely on others helping, or those who believe in gun laws.

To make things really bad, on of the first stabbing victims has AIDS, and now all others are being treated and tested, as they might have caught it through the 'infected' knife. This should be considered by all who think things can't get worse.
 
How are local talking heads reacting to this, or maybe you don't have that breed of fungus over there.

Over here should something like that happen we would most likely hear about how we now need monitors installed everywhere so "police can respond faster" (yeah, right).
 
To make things really bad, on of the first stabbing victims has AIDS, and now all others are being treated and tested, as they might have caught it through the 'infected' knife. This should be considered by all who think things can't get worse.
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:mad: Punk kids needs to be beaten with heavy, blunt objects until he is on death's door. Then when he recovers, beat him again. Repeat several times then banish him to Outer Mongolia for life.
 
I was in Japan a while back. Maybe two years ago, a young man went berzerk with a couple of big kitchen knives. He managed to chop up a few people when a middle aged businessman and his two younger employees jumped him and put a stop to it. Who knows how many lives they saved.

My daughter's 3rd grade teacher in Japan was a K-1 boxer. Not a big guy, but I was pretty happy about it. There was a long string of attacks on school kids and school invasions about that time, and the thought of some nutso getting into our school... It was a comfort knowing he was there.

These things seem to happen pretty regularly in Japan, lots of loser wackos who decide to kill a bunch of people before going down.
 
Its interesting to think about, but it reminds me of something much stupider.

everyone's heard of man-eating lions in africa, and tigers in india that eat literally hundreds of people over the course of a year before being killed.

If locals hadn't been disarmed, the body count probably wouldn't have gone far over two or three. I think the same thing goes for the idiot with the knife. Disarmed people really are at the mercy of the animals among them.

Course in africa, the lion was just making the local warlord's job that much easier.

But that whole AIDS thing? That's just plain disturbing.
 
Most victims did NOT notice being stabbed, just being hit or pushed.
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This common for stabbings. Victims often do not know they were stabbed or a knife was involved until the incident is over. This is due to a combination of factors...low light, knife weilder keeping it out of sight until use (or more probably, attackng suddenly) and adrenaline induced tunnel vision.

This calls into question (actually invalidates) the whole notion of training specific "knife defenses" where you first avoid, then control it, then counterattack. How on earth can you avoid something you don't notice?

The answer is the same for any weapon you may face or his (their) bare hands. As soon as you know you're in a violent situation (someone trying to injure you, not a silly bar fight) strike a vulnerable area as hard as you can to INJURE the attacker. Repeat until you are satisfied. You might notice the knife laying on the ground when it's over and a little cut or two on your forearm or side.
 
Stabbing people should be made illegal in germany!!
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That will never work...let's apply some logic instead.
1. Only law abiding people follow laws.
2. Victims are most often law-abiding citizens.
Therefore...make getting stabbed illegal and the law abiding potential victims will follow it and not get stabbed!:uhoh: :neener:
 
I've been stabbed and the reaction described is consistent with my experience. In my case I simply blocked what I thought was a punch to the abdomen and caught a shallow (1.5 - 2 " deep) wound to my upper thigh. Pegged the guy right on the chin and ended the fight, but not quickly enough. One trip to the emergency room and a torture session later (the doc probed the wound with his fingers, I won't say anymore) I figured I was pretty lucky to get away with so little damage.

What makes a knife so extraordinarily dangerous is the fact that a knife large enough to do serious damage is still fairly easy to hide. The victim may never see the knife before it's too late. All the more reason to be alert to suspicious behavior and *not* allow someone into to your "danger space".

On the tactical side, how would you have stopped this attack if you had had a firearm available? If you saw someone running through a crowd stabbing people, would you try to make the shot? I would think that you'd have to warn everyone else to get out of the way somehow. Any ideas?
 
Crowds work both ways for confusion and concealment. If I saw him, I would close and hit him on the back of the head with a heavy, blunt object. If I couldn't find one handy, well I could just stomp his knee into the pavement from behind using all my bodyweight and then (take your pick) break his neck, knock him out, knee him to the spine to get him prone and stomp his neck etc, etc... Use your imagination, once you've crushed his patella (or done something equally damaging from behind) you oughta have a second to pick something nasty to break next.

Probably wouldn't use a firearm if I was going after him and he wasn't orienting on me...to much chance to hit a bystander. If he was coming at me and I had the reaction time/distance to draw (not likely in this scenario) I would take a knee to change my field of fire upwards and shoot for the head if feasable.
 
Crowds work both ways for confusion and concealment. If I saw him, I would close and hit him on the back of the head with a heavy, blunt object. If I couldn't find one handy, well I could just stomp his knee into the pavement from behind using all my bodyweight and then (take your pick) break his neck, knock him out, knee him to the spine to get him prone and stomp his neck etc, etc... Use your imagination, once you've crushed his patella (or done something equally damaging from behind) you oughta have a second to pick something nasty to break next.
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Excellent ideas all around. I think you're saying that anyone with reasonable awareness, concern for their fellow man and the willingness to act may have been able to stop this attack with or without a firearm. I agree. So much for waiting for the police to protect you if you won't do it yourself. :rolleyes:
 
The solution is simple...

Just ban 15 year olds. Martha Stewart, Julia Child and Martin Yan will be out of business if knives were banned.:uhoh:
 
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