A teenager went on trial in Germany on Monday, accused of searching for Jews to murder during a knife rampage in the name of Islamic State.
Prosecutors say Erjon S, now 18, carried out a series of brutal attacks in the industrial city of Essen last September after he embraced a murderous jihadist ideology online.
The Kosovo-born teen appeared in court wearing blue jeans and a dark blue sweater, flanked by police officers and behind bulletproof glass at the Higher Regional Court in Düsseldorf, where he was charged with three counts of attempted murder linked to a terrorist organisation.
According to Germany's federal prosecutor, the then-17-year-old had become increasingly radicalised through disturbing Islamic extremist material on the internet from early 2025.
And investigators believe he decided to carry out a bloodbath on behalf of Islamic State in September that year.
The series of attacks began at a primary school on September 5, when he allegedly punched the ‘Hausmeister’ (caretaker), sprayed him with pepper spray, pulled out his knife and tried to stab him to death.
It was only because the caretaker fought back that Erjon failed to kill him, according to the prosecution.
He then allegedly fled to the same vocational college he had recently started attending, where he repeatedly stabbed his own female teacher, 45, in a school corridor, leaving her fighting for her life.
In court, her legal representative said she is “still not doing well” today.
Per the indictment, the teenager then headed into Essen city centre in search of more victims to stab.
Outside the city's Old Synagogue, prosecutors say he approached passers-by directly and asked whether they were Jewish, but moved on when they said they were not.
Instead, he allegedly targeted a homeless man sitting at a bus stop, stabbing him in the back because he considered his behaviour to be "un-Islamic".
All three victims survived, although some suffered severe life-threatening injuries.
The attacker was finally confronted by armed police near Essen's main railway station at around 11.13am.
Investigators believe he may have been attempting to provoke officers into killing him, because he may have wanted to die an Islamist "martyr's death".
After kneeling to pray, he allegedly charged at officers with a knife before being shot in the face by a specialist firearms officer, though he survived his injuries.
The suspect had been living with his parents near Essen Opera House and his family has reportedly insisted they had no idea that their son had been radicalised in his own bedroom.
According to the Federal Prosecutor's Office, the crimes were motivated by Islamist ideology and Erjon had gone to join the armed "jihad against perceived infidels".
When police seized and examined data storage devices, including hard drives and USB sticks, after the crime, these reportedly revealed very strong indications of planned Islamist attacks.
A week after the attacks, the Federal Prosecutor's Office took over the investigation. "The accused acted out of a radical Islamist conviction that is directed against the free form of society in Germany," the Karlsruhe-based authority then stated.
Even before the indictment was read out, the court officially closed the proceedings to the public for the remainder of the trial, which will include the verdict.
The decisive factor here, the presiding judge stated, was that the defendant was a minor at the time of the offence.
Thirteen trial days are scheduled between now and September 9.
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