Death trip in Mannheim – was driver mentally ill?
After the death trip in downtown Mannheim have announced further details about the backgrounds. Accordingly, there are indications that the 40 -year -old German, who is said to have controlled his car into a group of people, has a mental illness. This aspect will therefore be concentrated, said prosecutor Romeo Schüssler in Mannheim in the evening. Previously, Baden-Württemberg Interior Minister Thomas Strobl had said that there was no evidence of a religious or extremist background.
The alleged perpetrator is said to have hit several people on Rose Monday in the central Mannheim shopping street. According to the investigators, an 83-year-old woman and a 54-year-old man died. Eleven people were injured, including several seriously.
At a police press conference, Romeo Schüssler (VLNR), public prosecutor's office, Ulrike Schäfer, police president Mannheim, Andreas Stenger, President State Criminal Police Office Baden-Württemberg, and Alexander Schwarz, victim representative of the state government and speak to the journalists. Photo: Dieter Leder/dpa
The police assume that the man deliberately headed his victims. It quickly turned out that the incident in Mannheim was a targeted journey, in which several people were deliberately hit, said Mannheim's police officer Ulrike Schäfer.
Suspect is injured in the hospital
The alleged perpetrator was arrested shortly after the death trip and is in the hospital. When he was arrested, the man is said to have shot himself into his mouth with a shot gun. The President of the State Criminal Police Office, Andreas Stenger, confirmed corresponding media reports. The health of the 40-year-old from Ludwigshafen (Rhineland-Palatinate) is currently stable. However, he could not have been heard so far.
The public prosecutor accuses the landscape gardener, among other things, murder. An investigation had been initiated due to double murder and multiple attempted murder, said Schüssler. The man had become conspicuous to the authorities, but rather with small offenses. There are a few criminal records that would be long, said Schüssler. It is about a bodily harm, for which he served a short sentence over ten years ago, as well as a case of drunkenness in traffic.
The last act was a crime in the area of HATE Speech from 2018. He took a corresponding comment on Facebook and was therefore sentenced to a fine. There was no further information for the time being.
Several hundred meters rasted through the shopping street
According to eyewitness reports, the man comes from Friedrichsring to the main shopping street several hundred meters long and have driven on or over several passers-by at the level of the paradise. A carnival market with dozens of snack bars and rides is currently taking place on the planks and around the water tower.
According to the police, the shopping street was not secured with bollards or barriers. There was no special reason for this. « It was a normal day in the city life of Mannheim, » said police President Schäfer with a view that there was no special event there on Monday. There are tram traffic on the so -called planks, and there is also the possibility that delivery traffic will enter the street.
In the evening, top politicians from the federal and state governments visited the crime scene. Baden-Württemberg's Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann expressed his sympathy towards victims and relatives. « It is really difficult to endure and endure, » he said. He assured the citizens that the state was doing everything he could do to protect them. But there could be no 100 % protection. « Sometimes it's just tragic and bad. »
Strobl: « Can't make our inner cities into fortresses »
Absolute security will never be able to exist, said Baden-Württemberg Interior Minister Thomas Strobl (CDU). « We also cannot make our inner cities fenced. » The crime series has been used in several crimes of the recent past, in which a car was abused as a weapon.
Winfried Kretschmann, Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg, and Nancy Faeser, Federal Minister of the Interior and Home, come to the paradise in the city center for a statement. Photo: Boris Roessler/dpa
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser thanked the police and the rescue workers. « The police did an outstanding job, » said the SPD politician in the evening after she had taken a picture on site. About 30 police forces were on site in ten minutes, said Faeser.
Now it is important to have the investigative authorities do their work. It is a terrible act, « a horror on the bright day, when the weather is fine, during the lunch break, where many people are outside ».
Several carnival parades canceled on Tuesday
After the death trip, several carnival parades planned for Tuesday were canceled in Baden-Württemberg. According to the city, the carnival parades planned for Tuesday in the suburbs of Feudenheim, Neckarau and Sandhofen were canceled in Mannheim. The so -called carnival market on the water tower is closed, the street carnival in the city center does not take place, the city reported.
The cities of Heidelberg and Schwetzingen in the Rhein-Neckar district are also affected. In Weinheim on Bergstrasse (also Rhein-Neckar-Kreis), the so-called marketplace carnival is canceled, as the municipality confirmed. In Heidelberg, the associations and the city together in the Heidelberg Carnival Committee and the city in a crisis meeting agreed. Schwetzingen is located west of Heidelberg.
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The case arouses memories of several attacks in which vehicles had driven into a crowd in the past few weeks. In December came six people in Magdeburgwhen a 50 -year -old doctor had rushed through the Christmas market. In mid -February there was a man with his vehicle In a group of demonstrators in Munich driven. There came one Young woman and a child around life.
Case arouses memories of attack on the Mannheim marketplace
At the end of May last year also had on the Mannheim marketplace The alleged Islamist Sulaiman A. Five participants in a rally of the Islam -critical citizens' movement Pax Europa (BPE) and a police officer with a knife. The 29 -year -old police officer Rouven Laur later succumbed to his injuries. Another official shot down the attacker.
According to its own statements, the federal prosecutor assumes that the accused has sympathy for the terrorist militia Islamic State (IS). The alleged perpetrator is currently on trial in Stuttgart.
Mannheim is located in the north of Baden-Württemberg on the border with Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate. With around 320,000 inhabitants, the city is the second largest city of Baden-Württemberg.
