Overview

• Police say 21-year-old American John Rudat intervened when men harassed female passengers and suffered multiple knife cuts to his face in the ensuing altercation.
• Rudat, a newly qualified paramedic and part-time model from upstate New York, underwent immediate surgery and is recovering from serious but non‑life‑threatening injuries.
• Authorities detained a 21-year-old Syrian national near the scene but released him after prosecutors said there were insufficient grounds for pretrial detention and the knife attack could not be attributed to him.
• Investigators are still seeking a second, unidentified suspect believed to be directly responsible for the stabbing and have appealed for witnesses.
• The U.S. Embassy in Berlin condemned the attack and urged swift justice, as a family GoFundMe raised tens of thousands of dollars and the case fueled political debate about migration and public safety in Germany.