Knife-wielding woman, 28, slices shopper’s neck and tries to choke another in a Swiss store

A knife-wielding woman sliced a shopper’s neck and tried to choke another at a Swiss department store today before being overpowered by customers.

Police in the city of Lugano said that they could not exclude ‘terrorist motives’ after witnesses described how the 28-year-old rampaged through the blood-spattered store with a large blade. 

Initial investigations have established she attacked two women, first trying to choke one with her hands and then stabbing the second in the neck with a knife. 

One member of staff at the Manor department store said: ‘I was at the cash desk when I heard screaming, I turned around and saw a woman on the ground covered in blood.

The 28-year-old attacker went after two women at the Manor department store in Lugano’s old town on Tuesday at around 2pm

‘Other people were trying to hold another woman, they were holding her by the hair, I didn’t see well but she had a knife and it was big.

‘People all around were running away and there was blood everywhere. I’m shocked.’

One of the victims suffered serious injury, while the second only had minor injuries, according to local paper La Regione.

Neither was in a life-threatening condition.   

Police in the Italian-speaking Ticino region were alerted shortly before 2pm and arrived after other shoppers had managed to subdue the assailant.

One shopkeeper told La Regione that there was a tense mood in the city due to the coronavirus pandemic.

‘We are experiencing a difficult period. We notice that people are more nervous and often react badly.’ He said.