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Simeonstraße is something like the main artery of Trier. The lively shopping street leads to Porta Nigra, the symbol and heart of the city that was built by the Romans. Bernd W. left a streak of devastation with a silver gray SUV along this line. At least four people have died, according to the latest police reports, including a young child. Several seriously injured people are treated in hospitals, the two large clinics in Triers, the mother house and the brothers’ hospital, are almost in the center of the city. However, a collection point for the wounded was set up in front of the cathedral and some were airlifted for treatment.
As doctors and nurses tend to the wounded in hospitals, politicians express dismay at the 51-year-old man’s death campaign. It is “the worst thing” that people have “lost their lives” today, Rhineland-Palatinate Prime Minister Malu Dreyer said of what was happening in her hometown. The SPD policy visited the injured party and expressed their condolences to the families of the victims.
The fact that the consequences were not even worse is probably due to the rapid intervention of the police. According to the Minister of the Interior of the State, Roger Lewentz, Bernd W. had been arrested “four minutes after being informed”. According to a police spokesman, the driver was “detained by the police headquarters” and overwhelmed. A video clip that circulated on social media showed how the police officers tied W. to the ground behind the car. The front of the SUV was badly damaged.
Lord Mayor: “Blackest day in Trier since WWII”
Eyewitnesses reported that people were thrown through the air near Porta Nigra. Video footage shows bystanders tending to injured people on the ground and rescuers salute. Bernd W. is said to have driven in meandering lines and captured random people. Mayor Wolfram Leibe recounted how he walked through downtown after the incident. “It was just horrible. There is a pair of sneakers and the girl with it is dead, ”said the SPD politician. “An image of horror was presented.”
Leibe spoke of the “blackest day in Trier since World War II”. “I can’t understand how anyone came up with the idea of driving a truck around town and killing people.” The deaths include a nine-month-old baby and a 73-year-old woman. According to the police, a 25-year-old man and a 45-year-old man also died. 300 helpers from the fire department, rescue services and other aid organizations, as well as around 450 policemen were on duty.
The day was “a really bad and terrible day for family members,” Prime Minister Dreyer said. In the middle of a normal day, people were uprooted from their lives. “It is very bad for all of us.” Let your thoughts turn to the injured and seriously injured, and hope and pray that they survive and recover.
Bernd W. comes from the Trier-Saarburg district and was arrested after the death campaign, the Land Rover was impounded. An acquaintance had given him the car that was not registered for him. According to the police, he did not spend the last days in his apartment, but in the car.
Concrete barriers missing from Christmas market due to pandemic
The police began questioning Bernd W. that afternoon. There is no information yet on the motive, it had not been presented to the police in the past. The researchers also have no evidence of a political background.
Peter Fritzen has been in the prosecutor’s office for 26 years. The city attorney general said: “I have never seen such a senseless act with so many deaths.”
The researchers, according to Fritzen, however, had indications that Bernd W. might have a psychiatric clinical picture. This is the result of an initial evaluation by a health service doctor. W. was also very drunk when he was arrested. A first breath alcohol test showed a value of 1.4 per thousand, he said. Tomorrow it should be decided whether W. should be admitted to preventive detention or to psychiatry.
Unlike in previous years, the city center of Trier was not protected against such attacks with concrete barriers, because due to the corona pandemic there was no Christmas market. “There is no comprehensive security,” said Mayor Leibe. And: “You can’t look inside people.”
The Bishop of Trier Stephan Ackermann invited in the evening (8 pm) to pray together in the city’s cathedral. “I am deeply shocked by the commotion that occurred practically on our doorstep,” Ackermann said. Together they want to pray for the victims, their families, emergency services and rescuers and all those affected by this terrible incident. The emergency chaplains of the diocese are also on duty.
The police activated an information portal on the Internet. Investigators asked eyewitnesses to upload photos or videos of the crime there. Notes and information for relatives of possible injuries are available on 0800 6565651.
