After the attack on two schoolgirls in Illerkirchberg, Baden-Württemberg, as a result of which one of the girls died, the Baden-Württemberg Minister of the Interior and Deputy Prime Minister Thomas Strobl (CDU) announced that he would fully investigate the crime.
"We are deeply moved by this act when the life of an innocent child is so brutally taken," he said.
"In these difficult hours, our thoughts are with the parents, the family, the survivors of those who died, as well as the young girl's classmates and friends."
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) commented on the attack on Twitter on Monday evening.
"The terrible news from #Illerkirchberg shakes me.
I mourn the girl who was killed and sincerely hope that the injured girl will recover.
My thoughts are with their families at this time.
The police are investigating all the backgrounds at high pressure,” she wrote.
The Baden-Württemberg CDU parliamentary group leader Manuel Hagel expressed himself in a tweet "stunned" by the act.
"My thoughts are with the victims & their families," he wrote.
"This cruel act must be cleared up as soon as possible!"
Gunter Czisch, mayor of the nearby city of Ulm, said in the "Südwest Presse": "This terrible act upsets us all.
We are horrified by what happened, which seems completely incomprehensible and pointless to us.
The shock of this brutal act runs deep.
In this situation, it is impossible and unreasonable for all sides to have an objective discussion.”
In a statement, the police appealed "not to have any general suspicion of strangers, those seeking protection or asylum seekers in general or to encourage or support such suspicions" after the crime.
The police officers are aware "that events of this kind stir up fears and emotions".