Jordanian who posed as a Syrian refugee to claim benefits hacked his ex-flatmate to death ‘because he feared he had exposed his lie’
- WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT
- Issa Mohammed stabbed Wilhelm L. with a samurai sword in Stuttgart, Germany
- Horrified onlookers tried in vain to save the victim but he died at the scene
- The Jordanian, 28, crossed the Mediterranean in a boat with asylum seekers
- He thought his former roommate had exposed him as a fake to the German authorities
A Jordanian asylum seeker who claimed to be Syrian hacked his former roommate to death in the street with a samurai sword, police say.
Issa Mohammed, 28, feared the victim named in German media as Wilhelm L., 36, had exposed him as a fake to the German authorities.
The former McDonald’s worker was arrested after the horrific incident which took place on a residential road in Stuttgart, Germany.
Issa Mohammed, 28, feared the victim, named in German media as Wilhelm L., had told authorities that he was not a real refugee. In videos of the attack taken by onlookers, Mohammed can reportedly be heard screaming: ‘What did you send to Berlin?’
Mohammed (left and right) was seen repeatedly stabbing Wilhelm L., 36, in the middle of the road in Stuttgart as horrified onlookers (right) tried to save him
Mohammed reportedly fled on a bicycle but was caught that evening following a frantic police helicopter manhunt. He feared Wilhelm L., 36, had exposed him as a fake refugee to the German authorities
He used a ‘sword-like object’ that looked like a samurai weapon in the attack on July 31.
Screaming witnesses tried in vain to save the victim but he died at the scene.
Mohammed then reportedly fled on a bicycle but was caught that evening following a frantic police helicopter manhunt.
Officers also found a ‘sword-like object’ discarded in a bush near the scene, thought to be the murder weapon.
Mohammed had been living in Germany and claiming state benefits as a Syrian refugee for the last four years.
Wilhelm L. lay on a street in Stuttgart, Germany, after the attack. His Jordanian killer obtained a fake Syrian passport and crossed the Mediterranean in a boat with asylum seekers
But it has now emerged he was actually from the peaceful and relatively affluent neighboring state of Jordan.
Police believe he killed his former housemate killed Wilhelm L. as he feared he had uncovered his secret however it is unclear if the victim did so.
In videos of the attack taken by onlookers, Mohammed can reportedly be heard screaming: ‘What did you send to Berlin?’
When questioned by police, Mohammed asked for consular assistance from the Jordanian Embassy.
German newspaper De Bild said it had traced Mohammed’s brother, Ahmad, 21, in Jordan.
He revealed Mohammed had left Jordan in November 2014 and traveled to Turkey where he had obtained a fake Syrian passport.
Ahmad said: ‘He then took a boat across the Mediterranean with asylum seekers and arrived in Greece.
‘In February 2015 he wrote and told us he had arrived in Germany.
‘He met a German Arabic woman and married her in an Islamic marriage ceremony.
‘After six months it emerged she was already married. He left her when he found out she was pregnant with twins that were not his.’
According to German records, Mohammed registered with the authorities in the town of Eisenhuettenstadt in the state of Brandenburg on February 28 2015.
He claimed he had been born on March 12 1991 in the Syrian city of Daraa.
He went to Stuttgart in 2018 where he moved into a shared apartment with Wilhelm L.
Ahmad added: ‘In May he called to say his flatmate was making his life hell and that he would make his hell.
‘I saw the video and recognized my brother. I was very shocked, Something must really have went wrong for my brother to do such a brutal attack.’