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A man was driving a car at high speed through a pedestrian zone in the southwestern German city of Trier on Tuesday, killing five people, including a nine-month-old boy, and seriously injuring many more, the authorities said. authorities.
The driver, identified as a 51-year-old German born in Trier, was arrested at the scene and the vehicle was impounded, Trier police said.
The suspect, whose name was not released according to German privacy laws, did not have a fixed address and had been living for the past few days in the Land Rover lent to him by a friend, which was used in the attack, said the prosecutor Peter Fritzen, who was leading the investigation.
He was being questioned by police and was due to undergo a psychiatric examination, Fritzen said, adding that a doctor had recently reached the preliminary conclusion that the man might suffer from mental illness.
“We have no indication that there was any kind of terrorist, political or religious motive that could have had an influence,” he told reporters.
The suspect had also consumed a “not insignificant” amount of alcohol prior to the incident and was well above the legal limit, it added.
Mayor Wolfram Leibe, who began to cry during the day talking about the horrific scene, said it was difficult to take in what happened.
“I can’t understand how anyone comes up with the idea of driving through the center of the city with a van to kill people,” he said.
“Killing people – a baby, from nine months to a 72-year-old woman; what did these people do? They just wanted to go to town, shop, and now they’re dead. “
Four people remained in mortal danger at the hospital and another five suffered serious injuries, while six others had less serious injuries, said the state Interior Minister Roger Lewentz.
Police later said one of the injured had died, but did not provide further details.
The other dead were identified as a 25-year-old woman and a 45-year-old man from Trier; the baby’s mother was among those in the hospital. Police said the oldest victim was 73 years old.
“This incident has shaken the whole of Germany,” Lewentz said.
Police were called shortly before 2pm to report the attack.
Mr. Lewentz praised the security forces for their reaction, saying that they had located the car, which had stopped on the side of the street, and detained the suspect four minutes after receiving the first call.
The driver, who was alone in the car, resisted arrest but was overpowered by police, authorities said.
In a video posted by a local news outlet allegedly showing the arrest, police could be seen pinning a man on the sidewalk next to a car with Trier plates.
The authenticity of the video could not be immediately verified and was removed shortly after police tweeted a request that people not share photos and videos of the scene.
Footage from the scene showed people outside a store apparently helping someone on the ground who was lying amid strewn debris.
The governor of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, Malu Dreyer, who comes from Trier, condemned the attack as a “brutal act”.
“It was a really terrible day for my hometown,” Ms. Dreyer told reporters after visiting the site.
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesperson Steffen Seibert tweeted that the incident was “shocking.”
“Our thoughts are with the families of the dead and the many injured, and with all those currently on duty caring for them,” he said.
Trier is about 120 miles west of Frankfurt, near the Luxembourg border. The city of approximately 110,000 inhabitants is known for its Roman gate, the Porta Nigra, which is close to the scene of the incident and as the birthplace of Karl Marx.
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