Death toll in Germany Christmas market attack climbs: 5 dead, over 200 hurt
German Christmas market attack suspect arrested
Authorities say they have arrested the driver of a car that plowed into a Christmas market in Germany leaving at least two dead, and dozens injured. Victoria Coates with the Heritage Foundation joins LiveNOW's Andrew Craft discusses the latest details on the attack.
At least five people have died and hundreds more are injured – some critically – after a man driving a black BMW plowed into a crowded Christmas market in East Germany Friday evening.
The suspect – a Saudi doctor – intentionally drove into a market teeming with holiday shoppers in what police are calling an attack. He was detained on scene.
How many people were killed?
The death toll rose from two to five and more than 200 people in total were injured, the state governor, Reiner Haseloff, told reporters.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that nearly 40 of them "are so seriously injured that we must be very worried about them."
"There is no more peaceful and cheerful place than a Christmas market," Scholz said. "What a terrible act it is to injure and kill so many people there with such brutality."
A view of the cordoned-off Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany. A driver drove into a group of people, killing at least five and injuring over 200. Photo: Heiko Rebsch/dpa (Photo by Heiko Rebsch/picture alliance via Getty Images)
Neurosurgeon Mahmoud Elenbaby said some 80 patients were brought to Magdeburg’s university hospital on Friday night.
"We managed to stabilize most of them, but many are still in intensive care, and some are also in critical condition," Elenbaby told The Associated Press.
Who is the suspect?
Authorities have not formally named the suspect, saying only that he is a Saudi doctor who acted alone.
Local media say he is 50-year-old Taleb A, a psychiatry and psychotherapy specialist who has lived in Germany since 2006 and practiced medicine in Bernburg, about 25 miles south of Magdeburg, officials said.
Taleb’s X account describes him as a former Muslim. It is filled with tweets and retweets focusing on anti-Islam themes and criticism of the religion, while sharing congratulatory notes to Muslims who left the faith.
Car slams into people at Christmas market in Germany
A car drove into a crowd at a Christmas market in the eastern German town of Magdeburg, broadcaster MDR and other local media said on Friday, citing a local government official. At least one person was killed and several were injured, MDR's report said, citing local police. The report said the suspected driver of the car had been arrested. A video published by newspaper Bild showed people trying to help what appeared to be multiple injured victims at a crowded Christmas market.
He was critical of German authorities, saying they had failed to do enough to combat the "Islamism of Europe."
He has also voiced support for the far-right and anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
Some described Taleb as an activist who helped Saudi women flee their homeland. Recently, he seemed focused on his theory that German authorities have been targeting Saudi asylum-seekers.
Prominent German terrorism expert Peter Neumann posted on X that he had never before come across a suspect in an act of mass violence with that profile.
"After 25 years in this ‘business’ you think nothing could surprise you anymore. But a 50-year-old Saudi ex-Muslim who lives in East Germany, loves the AfD and wants to punish Germany for its tolerance toward Islamists — that really wasn’t on my radar," he wrote.