In Leipzig, a man killed two people and injured at least 20 others, three of them seriously, in what is believed to be a deliberate car-ramming attack. Early in the evening, the suspect drove a white car from Augustusplatz across the market square, hitting multiple pedestrians. The area is one of the main tourist hotspots in the city center.
The driver stopped in front of an outdoor seating area on the market square, according to several eyewitnesses who spoke to Der Spiegel. Bollards were installed there. Several people reportedly tried to pull the driver out of the car. At that moment, police arrived. Officers said the man allowed himself to be arrested without resistance.
“What a shocking day,” says 43-year-old Korca. Shortly after the attack, he stands behind police tape in Leipzig’s city center. Police have cordoned off the scene. The white car, with a broken side mirror and a dented hood, is still there. Shortly afterward, officers set up a visual barrier around it. “It was like a movie. You don’t think something like this could happen to you.”
A boxing trainer undergoing psychiatric treatment
Leipzig’s chief public prosecutor, Claudia Laube, later confirmed that authorities are treating the incident as a rampage attack. There are no indications of “any alternative explanation” and no signs of additional perpetrators.
The suspect is a 33-year-old German man. According to Der Spiegel, he was born in Leipzig and lives there. He works as a boxing trainer and is undergoing psychiatric treatment. Security sources suggest it may have been a relationship-related act. Prosecutors are investigating the suspect on charges including two counts of murder and at least two counts of attempted murder. “We are proceeding on the assumption of a rampage attack,” Laube said.
