Latest news with #ChristianSpecht
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Yahoo
German police charge man with double murder in Mannheim car attack
German police on Tuesday charged a man with double murder after he was suspected of driving a car at speed into pedestrians in the south-western city of Mannheim, killing two people and leaving 11 injured. The Mannheim public prosecutor's office said in a statement that the German national, 40, was also being charged with five counts of attempted murder alongside grievous bodily harm and 11 counts of actual boldly harm. "Items seized from the man, in his vehicle and in his home, such as a gun, written documents and digital data carriers, are currently being forensically examined and analysed," the statement said. An 83-year-old woman and a 54-year-old man were killed in Monday's incident. Prosecutors have said the suspect displays evidence of a psychological disorder. He was transferred from hospital to police custody on Tuesday. Media reports said he received treatment after shooting himself in the mouth with a blank round as he was arrested. Investigators searched his flat in the nearby city of Ludwigshafen late on Monday and seized a number of items, dpa has learnt. The car involved is registered to him. Investigators were hoping that interrogation would provide information about the motive for the incident that occurred on Monday, which police called a targeted attack. Handwritten notes have been discovered on the car's dashboard containing mathematical formulas for speed and braking distance. In 2010, the Mannheim public prosecutor's office brought a case against the man for the unauthorized carrying of a blank-firing gun. He was fined by a district court. The attack took place at the busy Paradeplatz square in central Mannheim, a city of approximately 320,000 people that lies about 80 kilometres south of Frankfurt. Witnesses reported seeing a car speeding down a major shopping thoroughfare before striking pedestrians. During a church service on Tuesday, the victims were remembered. "We are startled and at the same time petrified," said the deputy dean of the Protestant church, Anne Ressel. "The life of the city, the joy of Carnival, has been replaced by horror within minutes." Mannheim Mayor Christian Specht thanked a taxi driver of Pakistani origin who stopped the fleeing driver. "He behaved so courageously, drove after the perpetrator and ultimately blocked his vehicle to prevent further damage," he said.
Morocco World
04-03-2025
- Politics
- Morocco World
Two Killed in Germany's Mannheim Car Ramming Attack
Rabat – A car drove into a crowd in the western German city of Mannheim, leaving two people dead and 11 others injured. Police said they are not linking the motive to be as a result of any 'political background,' but did say the arrested 40-year German suspect is suffering from serious mental health issues. Authorities have revealed that the suspect is a landscape gardener who lives alone, and that they are searching his house for clues. He killed two people – 83-year-old woman and a 54-year-old man. Mannheim's mayor Christian Specht described the incident in a statement posted on the city government's website as 'abhorrent and inhumane.' 'Our thoughts are with the dead and injured, their families and friends,' Mayor says. Germany's State Interior Minister Thomas Strobl said that the incident is similar to recent past incidents in the country in which a car has been misused as a weapon. Echoing the statements from the police, he further explained that the incident has nothing to do with the suspect having any 'extremist or religious background.' As authorities continue their investigations, he added that 'the motivation may rather be rooted in the perpetrator's own personal circumstances.' After the suspect rammed into the crowd he shot himself with a blank-firing gun in the mouth but survived. He is undergoing medical treatment, which is why prosecutors have not been able to question him yet. For her part, Germany's Interior Minister Nancy Faeser describes the incident as a 'terrible act…a horror in broad daylight.' She further described the seemingly calm scene before the attack: 'In the most beautiful weather during the lunch break, when many people are outside, in the middle of a pedestrian zone.' The incident overshadowed carnival celebrations in the region where police had been on alert for attacks. Authorities have canceled carnival events planned for today in the nearby suburbs of Feudenheim, Neckarau, and Sandhofen. Germany's next likely leader, Friedrich Merz, whose conservatives won a national election last month, expressed concerns over the rising number of incidents in the country. 'The incident — like the terrible acts of the past months — serves as a stark reminder: we must do everything possible to prevent such acts.' Security has been a vital concern in Germany following a string of violent attacks in recent weeks, including deadly car rammings in Magdeburg in December and in Munich last month, as well as a stabbing in Mannheim in May 2024. Tags: Car RammingCar Ramming MannheimGermany
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Yahoo
Germany's Mannheim cancels Carnival events after two killed by driver
The German city of Mannheim has cancelled several Carnival events after a car drove into a crowd in the city centre on Monday, killing two people. The Carnival parades planned for Tuesday in the suburbs of Feudenheim, Neckarau and Sandhofen will not take place, the city announced. The street Carnival in the city centre and the Carnival market at the nearby water town have also been cancelled. The nearby city of Heidelberg announced earlier on Monday that it had cancelled its Carnival procession in the wake of the incident in Mannheim. Mannheim Lord Mayor Christian Specht ordered the flags on municipal buildings to be lowered to half-mast. "This horrific, inhuman attack on peaceful people has deeply shocked us all," he said. According to information obtained by dpa, the alleged driver, a German national, was detained and is now in hospital with injuries. The police do not assume there were other perpetrators involved. Carnival festivities began in Germany on Thursday and run until Ash Wednesday, which in the Christian calendar marks the beginning of the Lenten season of prayer, fasting and atonement.
