Emergency services and firefighters are on duty at the Christmas market in Magdeburg on Dec. 20, 2024 in Saxony-Anhalt, Magdeburg.
Dörthe Hein | Picture Alliance | Getty Images
At least two people were killed, including a small child, and more than 60 were injured when a car plowed 1200 feet through a crowded Christmas market in eastern Germany on Friday, officials said.
The suspected driver, identified as a doctor from Saudi Arabia who lived in Germany, was detained, said Reiner Haseloff, premier of the state of Saxony-Anhalt.
The suspect acted alone, and there was no ongoing threat to the public, he said. Officials have not given more information about a possible motive or cause of the crash.
The victims include one adult and one child, Haseloff said. He did not rule out additional deaths due to the severity of some of the injuries.
The suspect is 50 years old and entered Germany for the first time in 2006, according to Tamara Zieschang, interior minister of Saxony-Anhalt. He last worked as a doctor in Bernburg, about 30 miles south of Magdeburg, Zieschang said.
She called the incident one of the darkest days for Saxony-Anhalt and for Magdeburg.
A short video of the incident posted on X and geolocated to Magdeburg shows a vehicle speeding through a crowd of shoppers, hitting dozens as others scramble to safety. The vehicle races straight before making a right turn out of view.
The man was driving a rental vehicle, Haseloff said.
A police officer examines the scene of the crime at the Christmas market on Dec. 20, 2024 in Saxony-Anhalt, Magdeburg.
Heiko Rebsch | Picture Alliance | Getty Images
Police released a hotline for people affected so they can contact their relatives. They announced on X that the Magdeburg Christmas market is closed due to “extensive police operations” there.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz warned of a difficult time ahead.
“My thoughts are with the victims and their families,” Scholz said in a post on X. “We stand by their side and by the side of the people of Magdeburg. My thanks go to the dedicated rescue workers in these anxious hours.”
Haseloff indicated that Scholz is expected to visit the scene of the Magdeburg crash Saturday. A memorial service will be held in Magdeburg’s cathedral at 7 p.m. local time on Saturday, the city’s mayor told Germany’s public broadcaster DW. A memorial site has also been set up close to the attack site at St John’s Church.
Germany’s Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck lamented the incident calling it “terrible news” in a post on X.
Without specifically mentioning the attacker’s nationality, Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the attack on X and expressed “solidarity with the German people and the families of the victims.”
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the U.S. is “horrified by the attack.”
“We send our condolences to those affected and stand by our friend and Ally Germany,” he posted on X.
In a similar incident almost exactly eight years ago, a driver plowed into a Christmas market in 2016 in Berlin, killing at least 12 people and injuring dozens more.
The attack reverberated thousands of miles away in New York City, where police have increased security at holiday markets as a precaution, a senior NYPD official told NBC News on Friday.
Additional resources will be sent to numerous holiday markets and high-profile locations across New York. Threats have been made to some markets abroad, but no specific local threat has been made, the official said.
