The incoming mayor of Herdecke, Iris Stalzer, is fighting for her life after being stabbed multiple times in a daytime attack on Tuesday, just over a week after winning local elections.

Stalzer, 57, was elected mayor on 28 September and was due to assume office next month in the Ruhr region town. Details of the attack are still unfolding, but local media described it as a brutal assault.

Her 15-year-old adopted son told police that several men attacked her on the street. According to Westfalenpost, Stalzer was stabbed 13 times but managed to drag herself back to her apartment, where her 17-year-old daughter was reportedly at home.

Broadcaster WDR reported that the attacker remains at large, while other outlets said her son was seen being led away in handcuffs.

“We have received news of a terrible deed in Herdecke,” Chancellor Friedrich Merz wrote on social media, expressing concern for Stalzer’s condition.

The stabbing has revived memories of previous violent attacks against politicians in Germany. In 2019, local government president Walter Luebcke was shot dead by a far-right extremist at his home. Four years earlier, Henriette Reker was stabbed on the eve of her election as mayor of Cologne. She survived the attack and is set to leave office this year.

A recent study found that 60 percent of German politicians have experienced violence at least once, and one in five say such incidents have made them more hesitant to appear in public.