Four women and a 9-year-old boy were killed and 200 people were injured when a Saudi doctor drove into a Christmas market teeming with holiday shoppers in the German city of Magdeburg — an attack that has left Germans mourning the victims and with a shaken sense of security.
How did the attack unfold?
At first, Thi Linh Chi Nguyen thought the loud bangs were fireworks. The 34-year-old manicurist from Vietnam, whose salon is near the Christmas market, was on the phone during a break when she heard the noise just after 7 p.m. on Friday. Then she saw a car drive through the market at high speed. People screamed and a child was thrown into the air by the car.
The woman recalled seeing the car bursting out of the market and turning right onto Ernst-Reuter-Allee street and then coming to a standstill at a tram stop where the suspect was arrested.
The market stood empty and cordoned off by police tape, with armed officers deployed around it. Nearby, people stopped Sunday to light candles or leave flowers at a growing makeshift memorial.
Who are the victims?
Police say the dead are four women, aged 45, 52, 67 and 75, and a boy aged 9. Authorities said 200 people were injured, including 41 in serious condition. They were being treated in multiple hospitals in Magdeburg, which is about 130 kilometers (80 miles) west of Berlin, and beyond.
Who’s the suspect in the attack?
Prosecutors said the suspect, a 50-year-old Saudi doctor, is under investigation on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and bodily harm. In a closed-door hearing on Saturday evening, a judge ordered that he be kept in custody pending a possible indictment.
Several German media outlets identified the suspect as Taleb A., withholding his last name in line with privacy laws, and reported that he was a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy. He has lived in Germany since 2006, practicing medicine in Bernburg, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Magdeburg.
The suspect's X account describes him as a former Muslim. It is filled with tweets and retweets focusing on anti-Islam themes and criticism of the religion, while sharing congratulatory notes to Muslims who left the faith. He was critical of German authorities, saying they had failed to do enough to combat the “Islamification of Europe.” He has also voiced support for the far-right and anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
Some described Taleb as an activist who helped Saudi women flee their homeland. Recently, he seemed focused on his theory that German authorities have been targeting Saudi asylum-seekers.
What was the motive?
Investigators are trying to understand what motivated the man to drive his black BMW into a crowd in the eastern German city. Prosecutors said the motive may have been “dissatisfaction with the treatment of Saudi refugees in Germany.”
Investigators have to analyze computers, mobile devices and other evidence, “and at the end of the day we will know, or at least hope to know, what drove him to this act.”
Germany’s Federal Office for Migration and Refugees acknowledged Sunday it had received a warning about the suspect last year, and said it “was taken seriously.” The office also noted that it is not an investigative authority and that it referred the information to the responsible authorities.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is facing criticism about security lapses that allowed the attack to happen, and was heckled by some bystanders during a visit to Magdeburg on Saturday.
A string of attacks
The violence shocked Germany and the city, prompting several other German towns to cancel their weekend Christmas markets as a precaution, and out of solidarity with Magdeburg’s loss. Berlin kept its markets open but increased the police presence.
Germany has suffered several extremist attacks in recent years, including a knife attack that killed three people and wounded eight at a festival in the western city of Solingen in August. Friday’s attack came eight years after an Islamic extremist drove a truck into a crowded Christmas market in Berlin, killing 13 people and injuring many others.
Those attacks have led cities to beef up security at Christmas markets and other events.
The horror triggered by yet another act of mass violence in Germany make it likely that migration will remain a key issue as German heads toward an early election on Feb. 23.
It is the latest in a string of incidents around the world in which vehicles have been used as weapons by jihadi attackers, far-right extremists and others whose motives were unclear.