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secondIn the fatal car incident in central Trier, five people were killed and 14 people were injured, some seriously. Many people in the city center were also traumatized, authorities announced Tuesday night at a news conference.
Rhineland-Palatinate Interior Minister Roger Lewentz (SPD) said the driver drove “zigzag lines” in the pedestrian zone to inflict specific suffering. That happened to a very bad extent. Five people between the ages of nine months and 73 years died. In addition to the baby and the 73-year-old woman, the victims include a 25-year-old woman and a 45-year-old man from Trier, Trier Police Vice President Franz-Dieter Ankner said Tuesday. The mother of the baby is according to the authorities in the hospital. Police reported the death of a 52-year-old woman later Tuesday night.
The driver is under investigation in four cases on the urgent suspicion of murder. In addition, he was charged with dangerous bodily harm in many other cases, Attorney General Peter Fritzen said in Trier on Tuesday. The suspect is a German citizen born in Trier in 1969. Rescuers overpowered and arrested him.
According to police, the man spent the last few days in a car and not in an apartment. The suspect could have a mental illness. There are signs of a psychiatric illness, Chief Prosecutor Fritzen said. A doctor had examined the man and a psychiatric report would probably be commissioned.
There is no indication of a “somewhat terrorist” political or religious motive. The man was drunk on the spot. He had previously “consumed non-negligible amounts of alcohol,” Fritzen said. The 51-year-old man had a breath alcohol level of 1.4 per thousand measured.
The first emergency call was received Tuesday at 1:47 pm, as stated by Franz-Dieter Ankner, vice chairman of the Trier Police Department. The uproar in several streets lasted four minutes before the suspect who resisted was arrested.
Trier Mayor Wolfram Leibe (SPD) thanked the emergency services. About 300 helpers were on duty. It is not obvious that the assailant can be caught after a few minutes. “It is the darkest day in Trier after World War II,” Leibe said.
