Knife attack in Gerlingen: 26-year-old seriously injured after attack

Knife attack in Gerlingen: 26-year-old seriously injured after attack

On Tuesday evening, October 29, 2025, a 26-year-old man was the victim of a brutal knife attack in Gerlingen, in the Ludwigsburg district. The incident occurred around 7:10 p.m. on Weilimdorfer Straße, where a group of three to four people attacked the pedestrian.

The attackers were extremely violent, knocked their victim to the ground and allegedly stabbed him multiple times with two unspecified objects. After the attack, the perpetrators fled towards Feuerbacher Strasse, while an immediate manhunt involving several patrol cars and a helicopter was unsuccessful. The injured man was immediately taken to a hospital where he is receiving the necessary medical care.

Serious incidents in the area

This incident is not isolated. Just a few days earlier, on Friday at 3:30 p.m., a 38-year-old man in Gerlingen became violent after he armed himself with a knife and threatened to “stab” police officers. Here too, the police reacted quickly and were finally able to overpower the man, who was running bare-chested through the streets, after he threw away the water after threatening to use firearms. Later, on Sunday at 4 p.m., a witness reported another incident in Ehningen in which a 57-year-old with a large knife was cursing loudly and then disappeared into a residential building. He was also caught by the police and sustained minor injuries. These events show that there is a worrying trend in knife attacks and threats in the region, which is of increasing concern to police and the public.

Knife crime in Germany

The issue of knife crime is a hotly debated topic in Germany and is regularly taken up in the media and in political debates. While current empirical data on this form of violence is limited, studies show that knife attacks occur across different age groups and are not just a youth problem. A study from Rhineland-Palatinate analyzed cases of serious violent crime and found that the proportion of knife crime increased from 10.7% in 2013 to 14.7% in 2018, but without statistical significance. Interestingly, in the course of this study, the nationality-related differences in the perpetrator structure remained largely constant, which sounds as if society needs to think more intensively about the roots of this problem.

The majority of perpetrators are male, and the proportion of perpetrators with reduced culpability increased in the years treated. While responsibility for acts of violence must be borne by each individual, comprehensive preventive measures and further discussions are necessary to ensure safety in our cities.

The sad incident of the 26-year-old in Gerlingen is an urgent call for attention and action, because citizens want a safe environment in which they can travel without worry. The authorities are now faced with the task of reviewing the security situation and, if necessary, taking measures to prevent such incidents.

For further details and current developments on this topic and other incidents in the region, the following reports can be read: Day24, LKZ and PMC.