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The alleged Trier gunman was drunk on the spot and may have a mental illness. He ran through the pedestrian zone in a pickup truck, killing five people and wounding 14 others.
A man killed five people and injured 14 others, eight of them seriously, during a riot in a sports car in central Trier. Among the fatalities is a nine-month-old baby. Immediately after the crime, the police arrested a 51-year-old German who, according to the prosecutor, could be mentally ill.
The suspect was drunk and it was found to be 1.4 per thousand. But the man from the Trier-Saarburg district could be questioned. There is no indication of a political background. The motive of the perpetrator is unclear. The man had not previously appeared before police and had no criminal record.
The uproar lasted four minutes
“This event is shaking the whole of Germany,” Rhineland-Palatinate Interior Minister Roger Lewentz said. The perpetrator took specific measures and ran “zigzag lines” to capture people. Among the five deaths are a 25-year-old woman and a 73-year-old woman and a 45-year-old man from Trier. The mother of the baby is according to the authorities in the hospital.
The first emergency call was received at 1:47 pm, as Franz-Dieter Ankner, vice president of the Trier police headquarters, said. The uproar in several streets lasted four minutes before the suspect was arrested. In doing so, he resisted.
The perpetrator may have a mental illness
“We have a clear picture of the suspect,” Lewentz said. Ankner added that the man had spent the last few days in a car. According to Senior Prosecutor Peter Fritzen, there are signs of mental illness. A doctor had examined the man and a psychiatric report would probably be commissioned.
The investigations are for murder in four cases and dangerous bodily harm in several other cases. “We assume that he acted insidiously in the attack in the city center, used the vehicle as a weapon and therefore acted with means dangerous to the public,” Fritzen said.
Chancellor “very sad”
Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed her condolences to the victims and their families. “The news from Trier makes me very saddened,” said a statement posted on Twitter by government spokesman Steffen Seibert. “My condolences to the families of the people who were so suddenly and violently torn from their lives. But I also think of those who have suffered serious injuries and I wish them great strength ”.
Dreyer: “Too bad for all of us”
The Presiding Minister of Rhineland-Palatinate, Malu Dreyer, who also lives in Trier, expressed her deepest condolences to the families of the victims. It is “the worst” that people have “lost their lives” today, said the SPD politician. The day is “a really bad and terrible day for family members.”
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.
Lord Mayor of Trier: “Image of horror”
Trier Mayor Wolfram Leibe spoke of the “blackest day in Trier after World War II”. He was deeply shocked. An “image of terror” was presented to him in the pedestrian zone.
About 300 helpers from the fire department, rescue services and other aid organizations were on duty. This worked very well in the process, the victims were taken care of quickly, reported Trier Professional Fire Chief Andreas Kirchartz. Clinics in the city immediately switched to emergency operation, patients could have been taken there immediately. Lewentz said about 450 police officers were also on duty.
Prayers in Trier Cathedral for sacrifices
The churches remembered those affected with an ecumenical prayer in the evening. “There is still no explanation for the terrible act,” said Trier’s Catholic Bishop Stephan Ackermann. The prayer should give space to express the bewilderment, the mute and sadness at the “brutal act of violence.” About 150 people attended the prayer in Trier Cathedral. It was led by Bishop Ackermann and the Protestant superintendent of the Trier parish, Jörg Weber.
