In the western German city of Mannheim, a car crashed into a pedestrian zone, killing two people: a 54-year-old man and an 83-year-old lady. According to investigators, five persons were gravely hurt in the incident, and five more were only slightly hurt. A 40-year-old German man who is thought to have “concrete indications of mental illness” but is not thought to be associated with extremism was the only suspect taken into custody by authorities. After shooting himself with a gun filled with blanks, the suspect—who prosecutors claim was a landscape gardener—remains in a stable condition at the hospital. According to Mannheim police, the incident happened at approximately 12:15 local time (11:15 GMT). A black hatchback car was seen driving westward down Mannheim’s Planken shopping strip on CCTV footage.
Police were seen examining the vehicle, a little black Ford with significant frontal damage, in photos taken at the scene. The car’s front left hub cap is missing in the pictures. The front left hub cap also seems to be missing from the CCTV footage. According to Baden-Württemberg’s interior minister Thomas Strobl, the man used the car “as a weapon.” Mr. Strobl stated, “This act is one of several crimes in the recent past in which a car was misused as a weapon,” but he also stated that there is no proof that the occurrence has anything to do with the city’s Easter carnival. Romeo Schluessler, the senior public prosecutor for Mannheim, told reporters that police are looking into two murder charges and multiple attempted murders. The mayor of Mannheim called the act “inhumane” and “abhorrent.” “Our thoughts are with the dead and injured, their families and friends,” Christ Specht, the mayor, stated.
The departing chancellor of Germany, Olaf Scholz, expressed gratitude to the emergency services and wished them “strength” to “process what they have experienced” as Mannheim witnesses. He posted on social media, saying, “We grieve with the families of the victims of a senseless act of violence and fear for those injured.” As outdoor carnivals connected to Easter celebrations take place all over Germany, the incident occurs during a period of increased security. Major festivities are planned for Tuesday, and on Sunday there was a march through the heart of Mannheim. Now that a market has been shut down, there won’t be a street carnival in the city center. Additionally, carnival celebrations in the neighboring suburbs of Sandhofen, Neckarau, and Feudenheim have been canceled. Reuters A black automobile with a cracked windshield and a severely damaged hood is inspected by two police officers wearing white biohazard suits.Reuters
Over the past year, Germany has experienced numerous violent attacks that have resulted in hundreds of injuries and several fatalities. A policeman was killed nine months ago when an Afghan man attacked many people in Mannheim, just a few blocks from the scene of Monday’s attack. Then, in August, Solingen saw another knife assault that killed three people and injured eight more. Suspected of having ties to the terrorist organization Islamic State, the Syrian man was charged with the crime. Six people were killed and 299 injured after a man crashed his automobile into a throng at a Magdeburg Christmas market in December. A Saudi psychiatrist who was 50 years old was taken into custody. A 28-year-old Afghan asylum seeker killed a two-year-old boy and a bystander who attempted to assist him in January when he attacked a gathering of young children in a park in the Bavarian town of Aschaffenburg. Additionally, a 24-year-old Afghan asylum seeker injured over two dozen people in February when he crashed his car into a crowd. Later, a mother and kid passed away due to their injuries.