CHILLING screams were heard just moments before a German mayor was stabbed inside her home in a frenzied attack, a neighbour revealed.
Cops are now quizzing the two kids of mum Iris Stalzer, 57, who was found bleeding after being stabbed 13 times in the stomach at her apartment.
Facebook.Iris Stalzer, 57, was allegedly stabbed 13 times in the stomach and back[/caption]
Avalon.redFirst picture of the son detained by German police[/caption]
Paramedics rushed the 57-year-old Social Democrat to the hospital with life-threatening injuries from her apartment in Herdecke, North Rhine-Westphalia, at around lunchtime on Monday.
Initial reports said she was stabbed in the stomach and back outside of her house. Cops later confirmed the stabbing took place inside.
A special homicide squad are still investigating the case, but cops have said “a family connection is suspected” for the crime.
Stalzer’s 15-year-old adopted son told police that he found his mum inside their home following the brutal attack.
He alleged that “multiple men were involved in the stabbing”.
The mayor’s 17-year-old adopted daughter was also inside the flat at the time, according to Bild.
Both are now being quizzed by German cops.
They said: “Half an hour before the rescue helicopter landed, I heard the boy and his mother arguing. They were literally screaming at each other.”
Screams were often heard from the mayor’s house, they added.
The stabbing comes just weeks after her adopted daughter allegedly lunged at her with a knife.
The mayor – who is still in a critical condition – was “briefly responsive” with police this afternoon, according to Welt.
She was “awake at some point” and able to answer brief questions.
The mum reportedly said she “knew who committed the crime”, but gave no further details.
Stalzer had only been elected mayor for the 22,500-inhabitant town in the Ruhr region after a runoff vote on September 28.
APEmergency officials transport the newly elected German mayor to the hospital[/caption]
She narrowly won with 52.2 per cent of the vote against centre-right Christian Democrat candidate Fabian Conrad Haas.
Her term office is set to begin on November 1.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), spoke about the attack on social media: “We have received news of a terrible deed in Herdecke,”
“It must be swiftly investigated. We fear for the life of the mayor-designate and hope for her full recovery.”
The SPD parliamentary group leader in Berlin, Matthias Miersch, said he hopes Stalzer will “survive the terrible act.”
The case raises the memories of the 2019 murder of conservative local government president Walter Luebcke.
He was shot dead by a far-Right activist as he smoked a cigarette on his terrace at home.
Luebcke was a vocal supporter of former Chancellor Angela Merkel’s refugee policy.
Interior minister Nancy Faeser warned the case could confirm the “great danger posed by Islamist acts of violence.”
EPAForensic officers have been seen at the crime scene, assisting in the investigation[/caption]