BERLIN (AP) — The newly elected mayor of a town in western Germany was found at her apartment on Tuesday with serious stabbing wounds, German media reported. Chancellor Friedrich Merz said she was the victim of “an abhorrent act.”

An ambulance stands in front of police cars on a street in Herdecke, Germany, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025, after the newly elected mayor of Herdecke, Iris Stalzer, has been found critically injured in her apartment. (Alex Talash/dpa via AP)

Iris Stalzer was elected as mayor of Herdecke on Sept. 28. She is a member of the center-left Social Democrats, the junior party in Germany’s conservative-led national government.

German news agency dpa, citing unidentified security sources, reported that she was found with life-threatening injuries and had several stabbing wound

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