Live Update 
From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, October 7, 2025
From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, October 7, 2025
Newly elected German mayor stabbed, life in danger
Firefighters and rescue workers transport Iris Stalzer, the newly elected mayor of Herdecke, on a stretcher before she is airlifted via helicopter after she was stabbed, in Herdecke, western Germany, on October 7, 2025. (Alex TALASH / AFP)
DUESSELDORF, Germany — A freshly elected mayor was found injured in western Germany with multiple stab wounds, and her life is in danger, a security source tells Reuters.
Bild newspaper reports that Iris Stalzer, a Social Democrat who was due to take office after being elected mayor of Herdecke in the Ruhr region a week ago, was found by her son.
The case raises memories of the 2019 murder of conservative local government president Walter Luebcke, a supporter of then-chancellor Angela Merkel’s refugee policy, who was shot dead by a far-right activist as he smoked a late-night cigarette on his terrace at home.
Local and regional authorities are not immediately available to comment.
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