Germans mourn the 5 killed and 200 injured in the apparent attack on a Christmas market

1 of 28 |

A suspect arrested after an apparent attack on a German Christmas market was brought before a judge on Saturday night. The alleged attack Friday evening in Magdeburg, about 130 kilometers (80 miles) west of Berlin, killed a 9-year-old and four adults and injured 41 people badly enough that authorities warned the death toll could rise.

2 of 28 |

At least five people have been killed, and 200 injured, after a car plowed into a busy outdoor Christmas market in the eastern German city of Magdeburg on Friday in what authorities called a deliberate attack.

3 of 28 |

Officials from the German city of Magdeburg held a briefing on Saturday regarding an attack at a Christmas market on Friday evening where five people were killed. (AP video shot by Axel Gerke and Chris Stern)

4 of 28 |

Germans on Saturday mourned the victims after a car plowed through a Christmas market teeming with holiday shoppers, which killed at least five people, including a small child, and wounding at least 200 others.

5 of 28 |

Scholz visits site of Christmas market attack that killed at least 5 and injured over 200

6 of 28 |

People outside Magdeburg Cathedral follow a memorial service for victims of Friday’s Christmas Market attack, where a car drove into a crowd, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

7 of 28 |

People have laid flowers and candles in front of the Johannis church close to the Christmas market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

8 of 28 |

Participants in a silent prayer stand with candles in the Cathedral Square Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday Dec. 21, 2024 for the victims when a car drove into the crowds at the Christmas market on Friday. (Sebastian Kahnert/DPA via AP)

9 of 28 |

“Remigration” is written on a banner at a demonstration by right-wing groups in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (dpa via AP)

10 of 28 |

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, center, and Chancellor Olaf Scholza, center left, attend a memorial service for victims of Friday’s Christmas Market attack, where a car drove into a crowd, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

11 of 28 |

Firefighters, in the foreground, and others, attend a memorial service for victims of Friday’s Christmas Market attack, where a car drove into a crowd, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

12 of 28 |

People attend a memorial service outside the cathedral close to the Christmas market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

13 of 28 |

People lay flowers at the entrance of a church near a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

14 of 28 |

The Christmas market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, is empty on Saturday evening , Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

15 of 28 |

16 of 28 |

Citizens pay tribute for deaths outside St. John’s Church near a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noorozi)

17 of 28 |

Citizens pay tribute to deaths outside St. John’s Church near a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noorozi)

18 of 28 |

A policeman, right, stands on a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

19 of 28 |

Citizens pay tribute and cry for deaths outside St. John’s Church near a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noorozi)

20 of 28 |

People attend a memorial service for victims of Friday’s Christmas Market attack, where a car drove into a crowd, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

21 of 28 |

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, centre, speaks at a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

22 of 28 |

Police officers and police emergency vehicles are seen at the Christmas market in Magdeburg after a driver plowed into a busy Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (Matthias Bein/dpa via AP)

23 of 28 |

Policemen guard a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

24 of 28 |

People have lit candles at the Christmas Market in Magdeburg, Germany on Saturday evening , Dec. 21, 2024, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, . (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

25 of 28 |

26 of 28 |

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, centre, walks over a Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

27 of 28 |

28 of 28 |

The Christmas market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, is empty on Saturday evening , Dec. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER, GEIR MOULSON and VANESSA GERA

MAGDEBURG, Germany (AP) — Germans on Saturday mourned the victims of an apparent attack in which authorities say a doctor drove into a busy outdoor Christmas market, killing five people, injuring 200 others and shaking the public’s sense of security at what would otherwise be a time of joy.

The alleged attack Friday evening in Magdeburg, about 130 kilometers (80 miles) west of Berlin, killed a 9-year-old and four adults and injured 41 people badly enough that authorities warned the death toll could rise.

Magdeburg marked the tragedy Saturday with the tolling church bells at 7:04 p.m., the exact time of the attack in the city of roughly 240,000 people.

The driver, a 50-year-old doctor who immigrated from Saudi Arabia in 2006, surrendered to police at the scene. He’s being investigated for five counts of suspected murder and 205 counts of suspected attempted murder, prosecutor Horst Walter Nopens said at a news conference.

Among other things, investigators are looking into whether the attack could have been motivated by the suspect’s dissatisfaction with the way Germany treats Saudi refugees, Nopens said.

“There is no more peaceful and cheerful place than a Christmas market,” Chancellor Olaf Scholz said. “What a terrible act it is to injure and kill so many people there with such brutality.”

More on the suspect police arrested

Although Nopens mentioned the treatment of Saudi immigrants angle, authorities said Saturday that they still didn’t know why the suspect drove his black BMW into the crowded market.

Police haven’t publicly named the suspect, but several German news outlets identified him as Taleb A., withholding his last name in line with privacy laws, and reported that he was a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy.

Describing himself as a former Muslim, the suspect appears to have been an active user of the social media platform X, sharing dozens of tweets and retweets daily focusing on anti-Islam themes, criticizing the religion and congratulating Muslims who had left the faith.

He also accused German authorities of failing to do enough to combat what he referred to as the “Islamification of Europe.”

Magdeburg is shaken

The violence shocked Germany and Magdeburg, which is the capital of the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, bringing its mayor to the verge of tears and marring the centuries-old German tradition of Christmas markets. It led several other communities to cancel their weekend Christmas markets as a precaution and out of solidarity with Magdeburg’s loss. Berlin kept its many markets open but increased its police presence at them.

Germany has suffered a string of 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. The attacker was killed days later in a shootout in Italy.

Chancellor Scholz and Interior Minister Nancy Faeser traveled to Magdeburg, where a memorial service took place Saturday. Faeser ordered flags lowered to half-staff at federal buildings across the country.

Although many people went to the site with candles to mourn the victims, several hundred far-right protesters gathered in a central square in Magdeburg with a banner that read “remigration,” German news agency dpa reported.

A witness recounts the horrifying attack

Verified bystander footage distributed by dpa showed the suspect’s arrest at a tram stop in the middle of the road. A nearby police officer pointing a handgun at the man shouted at him as he lay prone, his head arched up slightly. Other officers swarmed around the suspect and took him into custody.

Thi Linh Chi Nguyen, a 34-year-old manicurist from Vietnam whose salon is in a mall across from the Christmas market, was on the phone during a break when she heard loud bangs that she thought were fireworks. She then saw a car drive through the market at high speed. People screamed and a child was thrown into the air by the car.

Shaking as she described what she had witnessed, she recalled seeing the car bursting out of the market and turning right onto Ernst-Reuter-Allee street and then coming to a standstill at the tram stop where the suspect was arrested.

The number of injured people was overwhelming.

“My husband and I helped them for two hours. He ran back home and grabbed as many blankets as he could find because they didn’t have enough to cover the injured people. And it was so cold,” she said.

The market itself was still cordoned off Saturday with red and white tape and police vans, as armed officers guarded at every entrance. Some thermal security blankets still lay on the street.

___

Moulson reported from Berlin and Gera from Warsaw, Poland.