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- Five people were killed and 14 others injured after a man drove a pickup truck onto a pedestrianized shopping street in Trier, Germany.
- The deaths included a nine-month-old baby while the mother was being treated in hospital for injuries sustained in the riot.
- The 51-year-old driver was arrested and appeared to be suffering from psychiatric problems and was under the influence of alcohol.
Trier – A baby was one of five people who died when a car crossed a pedestrian shopping street in the southwestern German city of Trier on Tuesday, police said, after arresting the driver.
Prosecutor Peter Fritzen said the driver, a 51-year-old Trier native, appeared to suffer from “psychiatric problems” and had been under the influence of alcohol during the incident, in which 14 other people were injured.
Police said they had “no indication of a political motive” after questioning the suspect and Fritzen said prosecutors were considering requesting that he be placed in psychiatric care.
At the same news conference, Trier Mayor Wolfram Leibe said that among those killed when the man collided with his truck into buyers were a nine-month-old baby and a 73-year-old woman.
He said:
I think this is Trier’s darkest day since WWII.
A 25-year-old woman and a 45-year-old man also died. Police have not yet released details about the fifth victim.
This image capture taken from video obtained from Steil-TV shows a cordoned off area with a destroyed stroller in one of the scenes where a car collided with pedestrians in Trier, southwestern Germany, on December 1, 2020.
Malu Dreyer, prime minister of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, where Trier is located, expressed her shock that a baby was among those killed by the driver’s “mad act” and shared her condolences with all affected families.
The baby’s mother was being treated at the hospital for injuries sustained during the riot.
Witnesses had previously described seeing people thrown into the air when the car hit them.
‘Traumatized’
The incident began around 12:50 (GMT) and ended four minutes after the first emergency calls arrived, with police intercepting the driver after he exited a main shopping street.
Police said it had crossed the streets between 600 meters and a kilometer, leaving a trail of destruction.
Officers sealed off the area and drove people out of the city center.
Police officers and forensic investigators and an ambulance work on one of the scenes in which a car collided with pedestrians in Trier, southwestern Germany, on December 1, 2020.
Smartphone images of a witness showed the arrest of the driver, handcuffed and lying face down on the street, being immobilized by several officers next to the damaged vehicle.
In the evening, the cathedral bells were rung and a memorial service was held for the victims.
An unidentified man, who claimed to be a former neighbor of the suspect, told NTV that the driver had a history of mental problems, as well as financial concerns and problems with his father.
christmas shopping
Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed her “great sadness” and said her thoughts were with the relatives of those who were “so suddenly and violently torn from their lives” and with the injured, in a message shared by her spokesperson.
The first images of the scene showed stunned shoppers huddled in front of stores adorned with Christmas decorations as sirens sounded in the distance.
Debris from stalls and outdoor exhibits was strewn across the cobbled street.
Picturesque Trier, near the Luxembourg border, traces its history back to the Roman Empire and is often called the oldest city in Germany.
Although Germany is dealing with a second wave of coronavirus that has forced restaurants, bars, sports and cultural centers to close, retailers have been allowed to stay open and many people went out for Christmas shopping.
Witness Frederic Fries told Welt TV:
It’s lucky the Christmas market was canceled because of the crown, or it could have been a lot worse.
The incident brought back memories of a truck rampage at a Berlin Christmas market that killed 12 people in 2016, Germany’s deadliest Islamist attack to date.
In January 2019, a German wounded eight people when he pounced on crowds on New Year’s Eve in the western cities of Bottrop and Essen. He was later taken to psychiatric care.
In April 2018, a German man crashed his van into people sitting outside a restaurant in the city of Münster, killing five before shooting himself. The researchers later said he had mental health problems.
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