Two dead after car 'rammed into crowd' in German city

Yahoo

03-03-2025

A driver rammed a car into a crowd in the south-western German city of Mannheim, killing two people and injuring 11 others, authorities said.
A 40-year-old German from the nearby state of Rhineland-Palatinate was detained and in hospital after being injured in the incident on Monday, state interior minister Thomas Strobl of Baden-Wurttemberg, where Mannheim is based, told German news agency dpa.
He later told reporters in Mannheim that 'as far as the specific motivation of the crime is concerned, we have no indication of an extremist or religious background at the moment. The motivation could rather be based in the person of the perpetrator himself'.
German police and prosecutors said at a joint news conference on Monday that the driver intentionally rammed his car into people and is being investigated for murder and attempted murder.
They said the driver shot himself in the mouth when he was arrested and had to undergo medical treatment at a hospital.
He could not yet be questioned.
Investigators are looking into the possibility that the driver may suffer from psychological problems.
Cars have been used as deadly weapons in several acts of violence in recent months in Germany.
Police said earlier that 'indications of a second perpetrator cannot be confirmed at this stage of the investigation'.
They said there was no more danger to the public.
Police spokesperson Stefan Wilhelm said a driver drove into people on Paradeplatz, a pedestrian street, around noon, when workers arrive for lunch breaks.
Local media reported a carnival market was taking place, meaning more visitors than usual in Mannheim, which has a population of 326,000.
Mannheim University Hospital said they were treating three people, two adults and a child, dpa reported.
The other injured people were taken to different hospitals in the region.
Images from the scene showed parts of the area cordoned off, with a heavy police presence.
Officers gathered round a badly damaged black car.
Friedrich Merz, who likely will become Germany's next chancellor, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that 'the incident — as well as the terrible acts of the past few months — is an urgent reminder that we must do everything we can to prevent such acts'.
Outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz wrote on X that 'we mourn with the families of the victims of a senseless act of violence'.
Last month, a two-year-old girl and her mother died two days after they were injured in a car-ramming attack on a union demonstration in Munich.
A 24-year-old Afghan man who came to Germany as an asylum-seeker was arrested, and prosecutors said he appeared to have an Islamic extremist motive.
Last year, six people were killed and more than 200 injured when a car slammed into a Christmas market in the eastern city of Magdeburg.
The suspect, who was arrested, is a 50-year-old doctor originally from Saudi Arabia who had expressed anti-Muslim views and support for the far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative For Germany party.