Five killed, many injured after German man drives car into crowd

1 December 2020, 21:44

Germany Car Crash
Germany Car Crash. Picture: PA

Police were called shortly before 2pm with reports of the attack.

A man drove a car at high speed through a pedestrian zone in the south-western German city of Trier on Tuesday, killing five people – including a nine-month-old child, and seriously injuring many more, officials said.

The driver, identified as a 51-year-old German man born in Trier, was arrested at the scene and the vehicle was impounded, Trier police said.

The suspect, whose name was not released in line with German privacy laws, had no fixed address and had been living in recent days in the Land Rover that a friend had loaned him, which was used in the attack, said prosecutor Peter Fritzen, who was heading the investigation.

He was being interrogated by police and was to undergo a psychiatric examination, Mr Fritzen said, adding that a doctor had recently reached the preliminary conclusion the man could be suffering from mental illness.

“We have no indication that there was any kind of a terrorist, political or religious motive that could have played a role,” he told reporters.

The suspect had also consumed a “not insignificant” quantity of alcohol before the incident and was well above the legal limit, he added.

Mayor Wolfram Leibe, who was brought to tears during the day talking about the horrific scene, said it was difficult to come to grips with what had happened.

“I can’t understand how someone gets the idea to drive through the city centre with an SUV to kill people,” he said.

“Kill people — a baby, nine months old to a woman 72 years old; what did these people do? They just wanted to go to the city, shop, and now they are dead.”

Germany Car Crash
A square is blocked by the police in Trier (Harald Tittel/dpa via AP)

Four people were still in life-threatening danger in the hospital and five others suffered serious injuries, while another six had less serious injuries, state Interior Minister Roger Lewentz said.

Police later said one of the injured had died, but provided no further details.

The others killed were identified as a 25-year-old woman and a 45-year-old man from Trier; the baby’s mother was among those in hospital. Police said the oldest victim was aged 73.

“This incident has shaken all of Germany,” Mr Lewentz said.

Police were called shortly before 2pm with reports of the attack.

Mr Lewentz commended security forces on their reaction, saying that they had located the car, which had stopped at the side of the street, and taken the suspect into custody within four minutes of receiving the first call.

The driver, who was alone in the car, resisted arrest but was overpowered by police, authorities said.

In a video posted by a local media outlet purportedly showing the arrest, police could be seen pinning a man down on the pavement next to a car with Trier number plates.

Germany Car Crash
Police officers are pictured at the scene (Sebastian Schmitz, lokalo.de)

The authenticity of the video could not immediately be verified and it was taken down shortly after police tweeted a request that people do not share photos and videos of the scene.

Footage from the scene showed people outside a shop apparently helping someone on the ground lying among scattered debris.

Rhineland-Palatinate state governor Malu Dreyer, who comes from Trier, condemned the attack as a “brutal act”.

“It was a really, really terrible day for my hometown,” Ms Dreyer told reporters after visiting the scene.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert, tweeted that the incident was “shocking”.

“Our thoughts are with the relatives of those killed and with the numerous injured, and with everyone currently on duty caring for them,” he said.

Trier is about 120 miles west of Frankfurt, near the border with Luxembourg. The city of about 110,000 people is known for its Roman gate, the Porta Nigra, which is near the scene of the incident, and as the birthplace of Karl Marx.

By Press Association

Latest World News

See more Latest World News

Pope Francis

Pope urges priests to avoid ‘clerical hypocrisy’ in Maundy Thursday speech

Resident clears rubble from home

Russia wears down Ukrainian defences with missile and drone attacks

Rescuers searching through rubble

Paramedics among 16 people killed by Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon

Hairdressers in Paris

French legislators ponder law to ban discrimination based on a person’s hair

Australian products in Shanghai

China ends tariffs on Australian wine as relations between countries thaw

Soldiers in giant fuel tank

US military drains giant wartime fuel tanks which had poisoned water supply

Sam Bankman-Fried

FTX founder Bankman-Fried facing decades in prison for crypto fraud

Aiden Minnis (left) and Ben Stimson (right) joined the Russian military

British traitor fighting for Russia in Ukraine says he is 'prepared to die' for Putin after family 'disowns him'

Austria Navalny

Portraits of Alexei Navalny unveiled next to Soviet soldier monument in Vienna

Hawaii Wildfire

Hawaii fire survivors moving into housing but 3,000 still in hotels

Trump Investigations Eastman

Judge says former Trump lawyer should be debarred

The cargo ship Dali stuck under part of the structure of the Francis Scott Key Bridge after the ship hit the bridge in Baltimore

Baltimore bridge collapse: Divers recover two bodies from water

Germany Bus Accident

Four killed in German bus accident

Two bodies have been recovered from the water where the Baltimore bridge collapsed.

Two victims of Baltimore bridge collapse named after bodies found 'trapped in truck' by divers

Disgraced Spanish football boss who grabbed and kissed Women's World Cup winner faces two-and-a-half-years in jail

Disgraced Spanish football boss who grabbed and kissed Women's World Cup winner faces two-and-a-half-years in jail

Crocus City Hall

Death toll in Moscow concert hall attack rises to 143