Remanded into jail is Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, a 50-year-old Saudi Arabian physician who is suspected of driving into a Magdeburg, Germany, Christmas market and killing four ladies and a nine-year-old boy.
As information about the attack and his potential motivations becomes available, he appears before a court on Saturday night.
Authorities stated that the suspect’s first name was Taleb, but they are not allowed to reveal his full name due to German privacy rules. Al-Abdulmohsen’s full name was verified to NBC News by two senior U.S. officials with knowledge of the situation.
A black BMW crashed through the busy market on Friday, injuring more than 200 people, with roughly 40 of them in critical condition.
A 9-year-old kid and four ladies, ages 52, 45, 67, and 75, are the casualties.
At a news conference on Saturday, top state prosecutor Horst Walter Nopens stated that al-Abdulmohsen used the rental car to access the crowded Magdeburg Christmas market through a gap designated for emergency vehicles, avoiding security bollards put in place to prevent such attacks.
He noted that the path, which is normally only used by police and ambulances, had been badly guarded.
After entering, al-Abdulmohsen sped 1,200 feet into the congested, tight alley, causing numerous individuals to fall to the ground. Whether he purposefully turned off the vehicle’s emergency braking system to increase impact is being investigated by forensic scientists.
Al-Abdulmohsen was confronted by armed police close to the destroyed car minutes after the incident. Al-Abdulmohsen was repeatedly told to lie on the ground by officers during a spectacular arrest that stunned onlookers observed.
Investigations are still underway, according to Magdeburg Police, and authorities are requesting that witnesses submit images or videos of the incident.
Officials disclosed that al-Abdulmohsen had been questioned during the press conference on Saturday night, but they did not disclose his exact words.
Nopens stated that while the cause is still being looked into, the act’s history may be connected to discontent with how Saudi Arabian refugees are treated in Germany.
In an earlier statement, al-Abdulmohsen reportedly said, “The nation that is actively criminally chasing Islam critics to ruin their lives is the German nation.” He also expressed fury at the German police.
He had worked as a psychiatry specialist at a clinic in Germany after initially entering the country in 2006 and applying for asylum there in 2016 after claiming Saudi Arabian threats. His employment was confirmed to NBC News by the clinic, located in Bernberg, 25 miles south of the attack. The clinic stated that he had not been on duty since October because of “vacation and illness.”
An NGO for migrants has accused him of acting erratically, and his internet activity includes both historical and contemporary offensive stuff on X. He has sided with far-right groups like Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which opposes immigration.
Nopens responded, “We didn’t have the perpetrator in our focus,” when asked if the attacker might have been prevented.
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