Car slams into crowd at Christmas market in Germany
Authorities said the driver had no criminal record, and the possible motive is unknown. The area surrounding the vehicle was sealed off by investigators.
The state premier of Saxony-Anhalt, Reiner Haseloff, described it as “a lone attack.” He told reporters on Saturday that the death toll rose from two to five and that more than 200 people in total were injured.
It is “astonishing, unimaginable, that something like this could happen in Germany,” Haseloff said.
There is no more peaceful and cheerful place than a Christmas market,” Chancellor Olaf Scholz said. “What a terrible act it is to injure and kill so many people there with such brutality.
The other four people killed were adults.
City official Ronni Krug said he didn’t have further information on the adults who were killed.
Neurosurgeon Mahmoud Elenbaby said some 80 patients were brought to Magdeburg’s university hospital on Friday night.
“We managed to stabilize most of them, but many are still in intensive care, and some are also in critical condition,” Elenbaby told The Associated Press as he dashed into the hospital cafeteria to buy himself a cola.
German media outlets identified the suspect as Taleb A., withholding his last name in line with privacy laws. They reported that he was a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy who practiced medicine in Bernburg, about 25 miles south of Magdeburg.
Describing himself as a former Muslim, the suspect shared dozens of tweets and retweets daily focusing on anti-Islam themes, criticizing the religion and congratulating Muslims who left the faith.
He also accused German authorities of failing to do enough to combat what he said was the “Islamism of Europe.” Some described him as an activist who helped Saudi women flee their homeland. He has also voiced support for the far-right and anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
Recently, he seemed focused on his theory that German authorities have been targeting Saudi asylum seekers.
Mourners lit candles and placed flowers outside a church near the market on a cold and gloomy day. Several people stopped and cried. A Berlin church choir whose members witnessed a previous Christmas market attack in 2016 sang Amazing Grace, a hymn about God’s mercy, offering their prayers and solidarity with the victims.
On Saturday, President Biden released a statement regarding the situation, saying his team has been “in close touch” with German officials.
“The United States extends our deepest condolences to the people of Germany grieving the terrible attack at a Christmas market yesterday in Magdeburg, Germany. No community—and no family—should have to endure such a despicable and dark event, especially just days before a holiday of joy and peace,” the statement read.
Recounting the horrifying attack
The violence shocked Germany and the city, bringing its mayor to the verge of tears and marring a festive event that’s part of a centuries-old German tradition.
Bystander footage shown on German news outlets showed the suspect’s arrest at a tram stop in the middle of the road.
“It was a real chaotic situation,” Lars Frohmüller, a reporter for German public broadcaster MDR, told CBS News partner BBC.
“We saw blood on the floor, we saw people sitting beside each other … and we saw many doctors trying to keep people warm and help them with their injuries,” he said.
Everywhere were ambulances, there were police, there were a lot of firefighters.
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