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The old town is the heart of Trier. This is exactly where the terrible incident occurs: a gunman runs over several people, some are killed, others are injured. The city is stunned.
Investigators are looking for traces, and even hours after the alleged riot in Trier, much of the pedestrian zone is cordoned off with red and white police tape. On this gray December day, random things are found on the road where the car must have run. Police now count five dead, including a nine-month-old boy. The mother is injured in the hospital. A 51-year-old German from the Trier-Saarburg district is arrested.
According to the police, the high-powered vehicle is said to have raced in the historic Moselle city from the basilica through the main market to the Porta Nigra, the world-famous city gate since Roman times. At nearby Christophstrasse, the police stopped the car after about a kilometer of driving and the driver was overwhelmed, “four minutes after the first warning,” as the Rhineland-Palatinate Interior Minister Roger Lewentz (SPD) put it, in Trier at night.
Lewentz speaks of a “very long road to crime” that is examined meter by meter. “It greatly affects people, including emergency services.” Lewentz was joined by Prime Minister Malu Dreyer (SPD), who lives in Trier. They both remain visibly shocked under the pale light of television cameras.
Evening prayer for the victims in the Cathedral of Trier
“It’s terrible,” says Dreyer. Worst of all, people have lost their lives. Not far away, the bells of the imposing cathedral ring. Bishop Stephan Ackermann has invited prayers for the victims at the diocese’s mother church overnight.
According to Attorney General Peter Fritzen, the alleged driver is said to have been drunk; he calls an alcohol level of 1.4 per thousand. There are signs of a psychiatric clinical picture. And there is an urgent suspicion of murder in five cases. According to the investigation, the car is said to have traversed zigzag lines, possibly to meet people.
Also closed late at night: the police kept parts of Trier city center closed. (Source: Thomas Frey / dpa)
When it gets dark, the citizens light some candles. Small tea lights that a young woman has installed flicker on the Porta Nigra. He wanted to express his sympathy for those affected, he says. “It’s all so terrible.”
“It’s amazing. We are stunned.”
Visibly shocked eyewitnesses describe how people were thrown up in the air in the terrible incident. “It’s incredible. We are stunned,” says a resident of a house that borders the pedestrian zone the perpetrator was driving through. On the cobblestones you can see a stain of blood, fabrics soaked with blood. “I never would have thought something like this could happen here in Trier,” he says.
Trier Mayor Wolfram Leibe, who speaks of “an image of horror”, says: “I think it is the darkest day in Trier after World War II.” A Trier-born man allegedly killed Trier. The city will accept this trauma. “I want to know why someone does that,” Leibe emphasizes. “I don’t know if I’ll get an answer to that.”
Trier rarely makes headlines
Why with us? Many people ask this question in Trier, which is decorated for Christmas. The municipality with around 112,000 inhabitants is the oldest city in Germany and is also known as the birthplace of Karl Marx (1818-1883). Trier rarely makes international headlines, especially not for capital crimes.
Trier Cathedral Tuesday night: A few dozen people came to worship the victims of the riot. Due to crown restrictions, he had to keep his distance on the banks. (Source: Harald Tittel / dpa)
After the death trip, helicopters fly over the center of the city. The police first advise the population to avoid the center. Then word spreads that the driver has been arrested. The relief is palpable. A video is circulating on social media that allegedly shows the arrest. In it you can see two police cars that apparently cut off the passage of a damaged vehicle. A man lies on the ground, three men, presumably security guards, hold him down.
Porta Nigra becomes a place of mourning
Another incident with an SUV (Sport Utility Vehicles): Memories of a serious traffic accident with two deaths in Frankfurt in November are quickly awakened in Trier. At that time, a 38-year-old man is said to have lost control of his powerful SUV. Or Berlin, where four people were hit by an SUV in an accident in the fall of 2019.
But this time it wasn’t an accident, it was on purpose. Hours after news of the arrest, few people rush past the stores. A few police sirens blare through the cold, damp air. Dreyer talks about a “crazy act”. “This is a bad, terrible day.”
“We will install a place of mourning at Porta Nigra, which has been in this city for 1800 years,” Leibe announced. Trier now needs a place where people can show solidarity.
