Germany’s interior minister said a Saudi national, accused of driving a car into crowds at a Christmas market in Magdeburg on Dec. 20, did not “fit into any existing mold.”
Five people, including a 9-year-old boy, were killed and dozens injured in the attack.
Four women aged 45, 52, 67, and 75 died, as well as the boy, who has been identified as André Gleissner.
German police say the suspect drove into the grounds of the Christmas market using emergency exit points and then accelerated before plowing into the crowds, hitting more than 200 people. He was arrested by armed police.
The suspect—named only as Taleb A, according to Germany’s strict privacy laws that prevent criminal suspects from being identified—had claimed asylum in Germany after fleeing Saudi Arabia 20 years ago because he said his anti-Islamic views put him in danger there.
The 50-year-old psychiatrist’s social media account showed he had voiced support for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said on Dec. 22 that a criminal investigation into the attack would leave no stone unturned.
“The task is to piece together all findings and paint a picture of this perpetrator, who does not fit any existing mold,” she said. “This perpetrator acted in an unbelievably cruel and brutal manner—like an Islamist terrorist, although he was clearly ideologically hostile to Islam.”
The AfD has strong support in Germany. Opinion polls put it in second place nationally ahead of elections due in February.
The AfD candidate for chancellor, Alice Weidel, has planned a rally in Magdeburg for Monday evening.
Taleb A.’s X account was filled with anti-Islam themes and criticism of the religion, and he regularly congratulated former Muslims who had left the faith.
He had also accused the German government of failing to stop the “Islamism of Europe.”
Several German media outlets said Taleb A. was a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy who had lived in Germany since 2006 and practiced medicine in the town of Bernburg, 25 miles south of Magdeburg.
Taleb A. had conducted several media interviews in recent years and said he had been helping people who had renounced Islam to come to Europe from Saudi Arabia and claim asylum.
It remains unclear why he drove a car into the crowd.
Magdeburg, located west of Berlin, is the capital of the federal state of Saxony-Anhalt and was part of communist East Germany until reunification in 1990.
The reaction to Friday night’s attack has been a mixture of sadness, horror, and anger.
The police said there were “minor disturbances” at a demonstration attended by more than 2,000 people on Saturday night in Magdeburg.
Some of the protesters wore black balaclavas and held up a banner with the word “remigration,” a term calling for the mass deportation of immigrants.
Eight years ago, an Islamic extremist drove a truck into a Christmas market in Berlin, killing 13 people. That attacker, Anis Amri, a failed asylum seeker from Tunisia, was fatally shot by Italian police four days later in Milan.
Floral Tributes
Thousands of residents deposited a sea of flowers in front of St John’s Church in Magdeburg, close to the scene of the Friday. attack.
Resident Ingolf Klinzmann said: “This is my second time here. I was here yesterday. I brought flowers and it moved me so much and I had to know today how many flowers were brought.”
A magistrate has ordered Taleb A. to be held in pre-trial custody on five counts of murder and multiple counts of attempted murder and grievous bodily harm.
It is not clear whether a lawyer has been appointed for the suspect.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
