Authorities arrested the 50-year-old at the scene of the attack on Friday evening and detained him for questioning. The suspect has lived in Germany for nearly 20 years, practicing medicine in Bernburg, about 40 kilometers south of Magdeburg, according to authorities.
The Minister President of the Saxony-Anhalt region, Reiner Haseloff, told reporters that the death toll had risen from two to five and that more than 200 people in total had been injured. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that nearly 40 of them “are so seriously injured that we have to worry.”
“There is no place more peaceful and joyful than a Christmas market. “It is a terrible act to injure and kill so many people with such brutality.”
-Olaf Scholz, German chancellor
Several German media outlets identified the suspect as Taleb A., withholding his last name in accordance with privacy laws, and said he was a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy.
It is time for reflection in Germany.
Citizens lit candles and placed flowers outside a church near the Christmas market where the tragedy took place, in cold and dark weather. Several people stopped and cried. A Berlin church choir, whose members witnessed another vehicle-ramming attack at a Christmas market in 2016, sang Amazing Grace, a hymn to God's mercy, offering their prayers and solidarity with the victims.
The man behind the attack
As of Saturday, there were still no answers as to what caused the suspect to drive his vehicle into the crowd in the German city of Magdeburg.
SEE ALSO | Developments on the attack at a German Christmas market as of December 20, 2024
The 50-year-old, who describes himself as a former Muslim, posted dozens of tweets daily, focusing on anti-Islamic themes, criticizing the religion and praising Muslims who have left the faith.
He also accused German authorities of not having done enough to combat what he called “European Islamism.” Some described him as an activist who helped Saudi women flee their country.
Germans shaken
The attack shook Germany and the city of Magdeburg, bringing its mayor to the verge of tears. This prompted several other German cities to cancel their weekend Christmas markets as a precaution and in solidarity with their fellow citizens in Magdeburg. Berlin kept its markets open, but increased its police presence there.
Germany has suffered a series of extremist attacks in recent years, including a stabbing attack at a festival in the western town of Solingen in August that left three people dead and eight injured.
Magdeburg is a city of around 240,000 inhabitants, west of Berlin, which serves as the capital of the Saxony-Anhalt region. Friday's attack came eight years after an Islamic extremist rammed a truck into a crowded Berlin Christmas market, killing 13 people and injuring several others. The attacker was killed a few days later in a shooting in Italy.
Chancellor Scholz and Interior Minister Nancy Faeser visited Magdeburg on Saturday, and a memorial service is due to take place in the city's cathedral in the evening. Faeser ordered flags at federal buildings across the country to be flown at half-mast.
Account of the horrific attack
Verified footage released by German news agency dpa shows the suspect's arrest at a tram stop in the middle of the road. A nearby police officer pointing a handgun at the man yelled at him as he lay on his stomach with his head slightly raised. Other officers rushed to the suspect and took him into custody.
Thi Linh Chi Nguyen, a 34-year-old Vietnamese manicurist whose salon is located in a shopping center opposite the Christmas market, was on the phone during a break when she heard loud bangs and initially thought it was It was fireworks. She then saw a car speeding through the market. People screamed and a child was thrown into the air by the car.
Trembling as she described the horror of what she witnessed, she recalled seeing the car drive out of the market and turn right onto Ernst-Reuter-Allee, before stopping at the tram stop where the suspect was arrested.
The number of injured was impressive.
“My husband and I helped them for two hours. He ran home and grabbed all the blankets he could find because there weren't enough to cover the injured. And it was so cold,” she said.
The market itself was still cordoned off on Saturday with red and white tape and police vans every 50 meters. Police armed with submachine guns guarded each entrance to the market. Thermal security blankets were still spread across the street.
Christmas markets are a cherished German tradition since the Middle Ages and successfully exported to much of the Western world.
Dismay and solidarity
Reactions to this attack at a Christmas market in Germany have multiplied in recent hours across the world.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the attack “horrible.” “Canada stands in solidarity with the German people this evening and expresses its support,” he wrote on the social network X.
Quebec Premier François Legault also reacted to the drama on X, saying the attack is such a “dramatic event as the holiday season approaches.”
