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- A car ran over several people in the pedestrian zone of the city of Trier in West Germany.
- Four people died, including a small child. Four people were seriously injured and five others were seriously injured. Six people were slightly injured.
- A 51-year-old man from the region was arrested. According to the police, there is no longer any danger. Currently, the background is unclear.
According to the Interior Minister of Rhineland-Palatinate, Roger Lewentz (SPD), the driver took a specific approach. The minister told the media that he led “zigzag lines” to deliberately inflict suffering.
In addition to a baby, the victims include a 73-year-old woman, a 25-year-old woman and a 45-year-old man from Trier, according to police. The mother of the baby is according to the authorities in the hospital.
Currently, the background to the crime is unclear. The alleged perpetrator does not yet have a criminal record. There is no evidence of a terrorist or religious motive. There are indications that there is a psychiatric illness, the prosecutor said.
The man was also drunk. He had previously “enjoyed non-negligible amounts of alcohol,” Attorney General Peter Fritzen said. The man had a breath alcohol level of 1.4 per thousand.
The driver is under investigation in four cases on urgent suspicion of murder. Additionally, he was charged with dangerous bodily injury in many other cases.
Thanks for the helpers
Trier Mayor Wolfram Leibe thanked the emergency services. There were about 700 aides in action, Leibe said. It was the darkest day in Trier after World War II. “We see those images on TV quite often and we think this can’t happen to us,” he said after the fact. “Now it has also happened in Trier.”
The driver of the car, a 51-year-old German, was arrested “four minutes after the initial warning,” Lewentz said at the news conference. The driver resisted arrest, police said.
A large number of police and rescuers were in action. Police asked residents to avoid the area while they searched for evidence.
Chancellor Angela Merkel also expressed her condolences to the victims and their families. “The news from Trier makes me very saddened,” said a statement from the Chancellor, which government spokesman Steffen Seibert posted on Twitter.
