« Indices of a psychic disease » in motorist who left at least two dead and several seriously injured in Germany – Liberation
A car struck the crowd this Monday, March 3, at midday, in downtown Mannheim, west of Germany. « A car struck a group of people in the pedestrian area of Mannheim and a person died, several people were seriously injured »said a police spokesman Stefan Wilhelm on the NTV television channel. Before the balance sheet increases two hours later. The latest assessment early on Monday evening reported five seriously injured and five light injured.
The driver of the vehicle, quickly arrested, is a 40-year-old German from Rhine-Palatinate, a regional state in the west of the country. A few hours after his arrest, the police said that« At this stage »there was no political mobile on this attack. The motorist rushed into the city's pedestrian area « At very high speed »using his car « Like a weapon »said regional interior minister. « This act is part of several recent crimes where an automobile has been used as a weapon »said to the Thomas Strobl press, according to which there is « No clue of an extremist or religious background » in this act whose motivation « Could be linked to the person of the author ». « We rather have concrete clues of a psychic disease in the author, which is why the investigation focuses on this aspect »confirmed to the press the prosecutor Romeo Schüssler.
An important police deployment took place, but the police, which evoke « A deadly risk situation », have not delivered details on the circumstances of the incident. The Interior Ministry of Baden-Wurtemberg has enjoined the public to avoid the city center. « We only see the wounded and the dead, and we don't know what to do »reported a merchant quoted by the local daily life Mannheimer Morgen. A fairground market was held in this area, in full launch of the carnival festivities. Television images showed personal effects abandoned on the ground, a child's shoe, a bag, a jacket … According to the media, the motorist was driving a black city city that the investigators began to examine on Monday noon.
Germany has been confronted with several attacks on the lamps in recent months which have shaken the country. Mid-February in Munich (south), a motorist had precipitated his car from demonstrators, killing two peopleincluding a 2 -year -old child, and having several injured. The alleged author, arrested on the spot, is a 24 -year -old Afghan who would have acted « By religious motivation ». In Magdeburg (east), in December, a 50 -year -old Saudi doctor had mowed the crowd of a Christmas market aboard a powerful BMW vehicle launched at full speed in an attack that killed six and some 300 injured.
To these attacks have been added other violent acts which have given security and immigration issues in the foreground. Mannheim had already been the scene of a knife attack causing the death of a police officer in the spring of 2024, during a public rally. The Afghan suspect's trial opened last month. In the west of the country, in Solingen, an assault with a knife, this time attributed to a Syrian, during a municipal party last summer had cost three people. And another assault with a knife, whose alleged perpetrator is an Afghan in an irregular situation and suffering from psychiatric disorders, recently left two dead in Bavaria (south), including a 2 -year -old boy.
On February 21, a 19 -year -old Syrian refugee stabbed a Spanish tourist, seriously injuring him in the grounds of the Holocaust memorial in Berlin, two days before the legislative elections in Germany. This ballot saw the victory of the Conservative Party of Friedrich Merz and a spectacular push of the far -right AFD party, which doubled his score with a speech advocating massive expulsions of foreigners and a hardening of criminal politics.
Update at 4:49 p.m. With more elements: at 6:20 p.m.: with the absence of a political attack mobile: at 7:43 p.m. with the statements of the regional minister: at 8:35 p.m. with the mention of mental illness.
