The Erlangen District Court issued an order for the placement in a psychiatric hospital of a 35-year-old man who attacked a police officer with a knife and pepper spray in the emergency room of the Waldkrankenhaus hospital. The prosecution points to the perpetrator's diminished criminal responsibility.
Court decision on isolation
The court in Erlangen issued a so-called Unterbringungsbefehl, ordering the placement of the 35-year-old German citizen in a closed psychiatric facility due to his mental state.
Course of the brutal attack
The perpetrator presented himself at the hospital claiming to have been poisoned, then attacked the summoned policewoman with pepper spray and a knife.
Use of firearm by police
In defense of the officer, a second policeman fired one shot, wounding the assailant and enabling his incapacitation.
Charge of attempted murder
The Nuremberg-Fürth Public Prosecutor's Office is investigating attempted murder, awaiting an improvement in the perpetrator's health before transport to the facility.
On Thursday, March 12, 2026, the Erlangen District Court issued an order for the placement in a psychiatric hospital of a 35-year-old German citizen who two days earlier had attacked police officers in an emergency room. The brutal incident occurred overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday at the Waldkrankenhaus facility in Erlangen. The man had voluntarily presented himself at the hospital, claiming he had been poisoned, but his behavior had raised concerns among medical staff from the outset. Due to the patient's escalating aggression and confusion, the doctor on duty decided to call a police patrol to the scene. Erlangen is a university city in Bavaria, with over 115,000 inhabitants, part of the Nuremberg metropolitan region. Incidents involving officers discharging firearms in medical facilities are rare in this region, and safety procedures in Bavarian hospitals involve close cooperation with police in cases of patients exhibiting psychotic disorders combined with aggression.
The situation escalated rapidly upon the officers' arrival at the emergency room. The 35-year-old unexpectedly used pepper spray against a 32-year-old policewoman and then attacked her with a knife. In response to the direct threat to his partner's life, the second intervening officer, a 25-year-old policeman, fired a shot from his service weapon at the assailant. The shot was accurate, wounding the man and effectively incapacitating him. The injured policewoman and the shot assailant immediately received medical assistance at the hospital where the incident occurred.
The Nuremberg-Fürth Public Prosecutor's Office is currently investigating attempted murder, but findings to date point to the perpetrator's specific mental state. A spokesperson for the prosecutor's office informed the media that there are strong indications supporting the 35-year-old's diminished criminal responsibility at the time of the act. For this reason, the district court decided to apply an Unterbringungsbefehl, resulting in the suspect's transfer to a closed treatment facility instead of a standard remand prison. Investigators are currently examining the exact course of events and the motives of the man, who had sought medical help himself before the attack.
Timeline of the incident in Erlangen: March 10, night — Attack at hospital; March 11 — Initial investigation; March 12 — Court decision