A freight train rattles through Brokstedt, the route is open again, only a few candles on one of the platforms are reminiscent of the horrific scenes that took place here the day before.
In a panic, passengers ran out of a regional train on Wednesday.
A man had randomly stabbed people inside with a knife.
Traces of blood were found in four wagons.
Eyewitnesses reported that travelers threw suitcases at the perpetrator in an attempt to stop him.
Julian Staib
Political correspondent for northern Germany and Scandinavia based in Hamburg.
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A 17-year-old girl and a 19-year-old friend of hers were killed.
Both come from the region and attended school in Neumünster.
At least five other people were injured, two of them critically.
This was announced by Schleswig-Holstein's Interior Minister Sabine Sütterlin-Waack (CDU) and representatives of the police and public prosecutor's office on Thursday in Kiel.
According to the information, the alleged perpetrator is the 33-year-old stateless Ibrahim A. He was born in Palestine and traveled to Germany at the end of 2014, where he applied for asylum.
A. lived in North Rhine-Westphalia, Euskirchen district, until the end of 2020, then mainly in Kiel in 2021, most recently in Hamburg.
Recently released from custody
He received subsidiary protection in 2017, but the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) initiated a revocation and withdrawal procedure at the end of 2021 with the aim of leaving the country.
How the process ended was initially unclear.
However, the deportation of stateless persons is extremely difficult.
It needs a state that agrees to accept them.
According to the Kiel Ministry of Integration, A. was not required to leave the country.
Only a few days ago he was released from custody in Hamburg following a decision by the local district court.
He had been incarcerated for an assault offense, which also involved an act with a knife.
A. was sentenced to one year and one week without probation by the Hamburg St.Georg district court for dangerous bodily harm and theft.
According to the verdict, A. attacked and injured a man with a knife in front of a homeless shelter in Hamburg in January 2022.
Both had stood in line for food distribution and got into an argument.
However, according to the information, the judgment was not yet final.
A. had appealed, there were delays and because he spent almost a year in custody, the district court lifted the arrest warrant.
Where he went after his release remained open on Thursday.
He didn't seem to have had a permanent home.
Long history of violence
As early as the end of 2021, just a few weeks before the crime in front of the homeless shelter, A. first appeared to the police in Hamburg, said the spokesman for the Hamburg interior authority.
It was about assault.
In Kiel, A. was known to the police for disputes and shoplifting.
He had three prior convictions, plus a prison sentence.
In Schleswig-Holstein there were no proceedings against him, according to the regulations in force in the state he was not considered an intensive offender.
The year 2021, A. had lived almost entirely in shared accommodation in Kiel, but had been banned there because he had been harassed by roommates and had become conspicuous.
What happened to him afterwards and where he was – apart from being in custody – initially remained unclear.
On Wednesday morning, the day of the knife attack, he had spoken to an "Infopoint" in Kiel, a municipal contact point for the authorities.
The employees referred him to the homeless aid and the residents' registration office because his whereabouts were unclear, says Christian Zierau, city councilor from Kiel.
But he didn't get there.
The employees did not find any abnormalities.
A. was arrested by the police on Wednesday with minor injuries; he offered no resistance.
He was taken into custody on Thursday.
After the attack, the perpetrator was apparently overwhelmed by passengers and arrested by the police on the platform.
According to Frank Matthiesen from the Itzehoe police department, the situation there was "confusing and chaotic".
In the local community center, which is located directly opposite the train station, helpers quickly prepared a room where people who had been on the train were given blankets and warm drinks.
The local honorary mayor Clemens Preine spoke to this newspaper of a "shattering scenery": Many people were completely helpless.
But he also reports of great willingness to help and that an 80-year-old woman opened the doors of the community center and how the pastors looked after those affected in the local fire station.
Brokstedt has a little more than 2100 inhabitants, many brick houses and a lot of flat land around them;
on the pastures there are a few horses in the fog that day.
Many people from the town commuted by train themselves, says Mayor Preine, which only affects everyone more.
People stick together in the village, get involved, also in clubs.
"This will now give me strength to process this terrible event."
The question of why, however, remains open on Thursday – as is often the case with such acts.
The motive was "completely unclear," says senior public prosecutor Carsten Ohlrogge from the Itzehoe public prosecutor's office.
So far there is no evidence of a terrorist background or an act planned well in advance.
The Itzehoe murder commission is now asking the population for information and has set up a portal for anonymous uploading of video or photo files.