Goettingen, Germany - A suspect accused of killing two women in
a street attack called police several times to ask after his victims
during a 32-hour manhunt, police said on Saturday.
The alleged attacker and one woman got into an argument on Thursday
afternoon in western German town of Goettingen. The man attacked her,
and she died of her injuries at the scene, police said.
One of the victim's work colleagues who came to her aid also died
from her wounds, police chief Thomas Rath said on Saturday. According
to police, other locals also suffered injuries.
The colleague's death comes just hours after police detained the
52-year-old man suspected in the attack, who had eluded police for
some 32 hours.
The suspect had contacted a lawyer and asked for legal help, police
said at a press conference Saturday. After the lawyer declined, the
man fled again, this time by train, where he was recognized.
The man managed to escape arrest once more by breaking a train window
before he was apprehended outside a restaurant in the university town
of Goettingen.
While he was on the run, he called the police several times,
borrowing mobiles from passers-by, asking after the victims and
trying to negotiate. He acted "slippery as an eel," police said.
According to police, the suspect, who has several convictions for
violent crimes, had known his first victim.
The man had ambushed the woman, poured flammable liquid over her and
lit her on fire, police said. When she tried to run away, he stabbed
her. He also grabbed a fire extinguisher from a helper and hit his
victim with it.
Police suspect that the man had wanted a relationship with the first
victim.