Death toll rises to five with more than 200 injured in German Christmas market attack

By Catherine Nicholls, Frederik Pleitgen, Benjamin Brown, Lauren Kent and Nadine Schmidt, CNN

Berlin (CNN) — At least five people were killed and more than 200 injured after a car plowed into a crowd at a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg on Friday, local authorities said.

“It is unimaginable that this is happening in Germany,” Reiner Haseloff, the prime minister of Saxony-Anhalt state, said during a visit to the scene with other officials on Saturday, confirming the latest death toll which included one toddler.

Haseloff said on Friday that the suspect – who was arrested – was a 50-year-old man from Saudi Arabia who has lived in Germany since 2006 and had worked as a doctor.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who was among the group of politicians that laid flowers at a church near the market, said that nearly 40 people were critically injured in Friday’s car-ramming, adding he was “very worried” for them.

“There is no more peaceful, more joyous place in Germany than Christmas markets when people come together ahead of the Christmas festival and spend some time together, drink mulled wine, have a sausage together to relax together,” Scholz told reporters in Magdeburg on Saturday.

He stressed that Germany must remain united after the fatal attack, and vowed that the perpetrator would not go unpunished, adding that investigators would, “try to understand what the motive was of the attacker in order to respond with the full strength of the law.”

Footage from social media, verified by CNN, shows the gruesome moment a black car drove directly into the crowd at the busy Christmas market.

In the video, dozens of people can be seen crowded at the market stalls when the vehicle plows directly into them. Some people can be seen running away in panic, while others dive into the stalls. Bodies and debris are scattered across the narrow lane as the car turns out of the plaza.

The area around the car was previously cordoned off over suspicion that an explosive device could be inside it, but police later found no such device, local public broadcaster MDR reported, citing Magdeburg police.

The suspect had rented the car used in the alleged attack, MDR reported, citing Haseloff. The state’s interior minister, Tamara Zieschang, said that the suspect had a permanent residency permit.

Magdeburg, the state capital of Saxony-Anhalt, has a population of about 240,000.

The Christmas market was scheduled to be open from November 22 through December 29, according to its website. It has about 140 market stalls, as well as an ice skating rink, a ferris wheel and a children’s play area.

Haseloff said mourning would take place in Germany, especially in the state. City authorities announced there would be a memorial service at Magdeburg Cathedral at 7 p.m. (1 p.m. ET) Saturday.

“We will fly the flags at half-mast to express what a tragedy has taken place here and that we all share in the suffering that has been inflicted on people,” he said.

Footage geolocated from social media showed law enforcement officials arresting an individual about 500 feet (150 meters) from where the vehicle plowed into the crowd.

The video published by the AP news agency pans across a busy road to show a police officer aiming a handgun at the arrestee near a vehicle, which appears to be heavily damaged. Moments later two police vans arrive, and officers swarm the scene.

A separate video also from AP, captured from across the street, shows officers handcuffing an individual lying prone beside the black SUV seconds later.

CNN affiliate NTV reported on the same video, saying it captured the moment the suspect was arrested.

CNN has not been able to confirm if this is the suspect in Friday’s market attack.

The number of injured people exceeded what hospitals in Magdeburg could handle, with some being flown to a hospital in the nearby city of Halle for treatment, MDR reported. Those with minor injuries were treated at a nearby shopping center and on a tram converted into a care center.

About 100 firefighters and 50 rescue personnel have been deployed, the city of Magdeburg said.

Speaking to reporters in Madgeburg on Saturday, Scholz urged Germans to support one another and remember Germany “is one society” that will win through a “shared future.”

“For me it’s important that when such a terrible, awful event happens, a terrible attack in which so many people were injured and killed, almost on the anniversary of the Breitscheidplatz terror attack in Berlin, that we as a country stay together and stick together,” he said, referring to another ramming attack on a Christmas market in 2016 that left 12 dead.

Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry condemned the attack.

“The Kingdom affirms its position in rejecting violence and expresses its sympathy and sincere condolences to the families of the deceased and to the Federal Republic of Germany, government and people, with its wishes for a speedy recovery for the injured,” it said in a statement.

The White House was closely monitoring the situation and US officials were in touch with their German counterparts that were investigating the situation to offer support, a National Security Council official told CNN.

European leaders, including President of the European Council António Costa, French President Emmanuel Macron and Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof also sent their condolences.

CNN’s Avery Schmitz, Billy Stockwell, Inke Kappeler and Melissa Gray contributed to this report.

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