At the very least two individuals had been killed and 25 others had been injured when a automobile drove right into a crowd in Mannheim, Germany, on Monday, throughout an annual carnival celebration, police mentioned.
“A 40-year-old suspect drove a automobile into a bunch of people that had been within the Planken space of Mannheim metropolis heart,” the police assertion mentioned. “Two individuals had been killed and 5 significantly injured.”
The 2 individuals killed within the assault have been recognized as an 83-year-old lady and a 54-year-old man.
A search of the world was instantly launched and a suspect was arrested, in keeping with the police assertion.
The suspect was later recognized as Alexander Scheuermann, a 40-year-old German citizen from Ludwigshafen, two sources near the investigation instructed ABC Information. He’s being investigated for double homicide and a number of tried murders, in keeping with officers, who consider he acted alone.
Emergency companies and police stand at Paradeplatz in Mannheim, Germany, March 3, 2025.
René Priebe/DPA by way of AP
The suspect, in accordance the German inside minister, shot himself as police moved in, however survived after being taken to a hospital.
“We assume that he drove deliberately,” mentioned Romeo Schussler, senior public prosecutor, explaining that the person was identified to authorities for previous incidents.
“The perpetrator needed to serve a brief jail sentence for bodily hurt 10 years in the past. There was additionally a case of drunk driving,” he mentioned. “The final time he was seen was in 2018 for hate speech on Fb.”
Nonetheless, a motive for the assault stays beneath investigation.
Schussler added that there was “concrete proof” that Scheuermann could have been residing with a psychological well being dysfunction and that investigators are persevering with to look into that side of the case.
Andreas Stenger, president of the State Legal Police Workplace, mentioned that there was no proof that the crime had been introduced upfront, and that the suspect’s social media information was being “forensically secured.”
Automobile plows into crowd in southwestern Germany
ABC Information, Google Earth
Mannheim has a inhabitants of 326,000 and is about 52 miles south of Frankfurt.
The incident unfolded round 12:15 p.m. native time within the Planken buying district space close to Paradeplatz Sq., in keeping with police.
Police mentioned that each one bridges and principal roads had been initially blocked off and authorities requested the general public to avoid town heart. A number of hours later, police reopened the world after issuing an all-clear.
Video footage from Paradeplatz Sq. within the heart of Mannheim confirmed consumers standing exterior an space cordoned off by police tape and strewn with particles, together with a shoe. First responders might be seen tending to no less than one injured individual.
Of the 25 individuals injured, 5 had been in life-threatening situation, the inside minister mentioned, including that youngsters had been amongst these damage.
The German inside minister mentioned the suspect’s automobile, a Ford Fiesta, was discovered deserted by police close to the scene of Monday’s lethal incident.
The incident occurred as individuals had been gathering in central Mannheim for an annual German carnival celebration.
Witness Manu Brioso instructed ABC Information that he was taking a category in a constructing within the Paradeplatz space when he noticed the automobile concerned within the incident move by on the road earlier than it struck a crowd of individuals.
“The college instructed us what had occurred and that we could not depart the college as a result of police had cordoned off the world,” Brioso mentioned.
When he was allowed to go away, Brioso mentioned the road was filled with police, firefighters and ambulances.
Safety video obtained by ABC Information confirmed the car, a dark-colored compact hatchback automobile, seemed to be dashing down a road earlier than the incident, drawing the eye of individuals seated at a sidewalk cafe and pedestrians, some speeding throughout the road to get out of the automobile’s path.
Officers on the Mannheim College Hospital mentioned they acquired an emergency alert at 12:20 p.m. native time a few doable mass casualty incident in downtown Mannheim and activated the hospital’s emergency plan in preparation for treating the injured. The hospital reported receiving many injured sufferers, each adults and kids, together with some in important situation.
The hospital mentioned its intensive care unit was full because of the arrival of a excessive variety of important sufferers. In keeping with the hospital, eight trauma groups had been treating each adults and kids.
As a safety precaution, all the hospital’s entrances had been closed to the general public.
Emergency companies and police stand at Paradeplatz in Mannheim, Germany, March 3, 2025.
Dieter Leder/DPA by way of AP
The lethal incident comes within the wake of two intentional car-ramming assaults in Germany and at a time of heightened safety throughout the nation.
On Feb. 13, a 24-year-old suspect drove a automobile right into a crowd in Munich gathered for a commerce union demonstration, killing a 37-year-old mom and her 2-year-old daughter and injuring 37 individuals. The suspect, Fahad Noori, who’s initially from Afghanistan, purportedly confessed to investigators that the act was deliberate. A prosecutor, Gabriele Tilman, mentioned the suspect “gave an evidence I’d summarize as spiritual motivation.”
On Dec. 20, a car-ramming assault occurred at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, that left 5 individuals useless and round 200 injured. A 50-year-old Saudi-born man, recognized as Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, was arrested within the incident, which police suspect was deliberate. Al-Abdulmohsen was charged with 5 counts of homicide and a number of counts of each tried homicide and inflicting grievous bodily hurt.
The Mannheim incident comes at the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and amid a risk atmosphere that has prompted Western officers to situation warnings to legislation enforcement and intelligence companies in the US and Western Europe.
In keeping with a discover issued by the U.S. Nationwide Counterterrorism Middle final week, an ISIS-aligned community launched a poster referred to as “Select Your Subsequent Goal!” and lists 4 upcoming festivals and parades, largely in Germany. The poster options pictures of a bloody knife and pistol, encouraging assaults.
Officers famous that final yr throughout Ramadan, ISIS-Khorasan attacked Crocus Metropolis Corridor in Moscow, Russia, killing 145 individuals.
“Following the assault, ISIS launched a uncommon audio assertion from its official spokesman — which supporters subsequently translated into over a dozen languages, together with English — celebrating that assault and calling for extra violence in opposition to Christian and Jewish communities throughout Ramadan,” officers mentioned.
On New Yr’s Day, 14 individuals had been killed and quite a few others had been injured in a automobile ramming assault on Bourbon Avenue in New Orleans’ French Quarter. The suspect was 42-year-old Military veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar, who was killed in a gunfight with law enforcement officials. Investigators alleged that Jabbar, who was a U.S.-born citizen from Texas, was impressed by ISIS to commit the assault.
In current days, the New York Police Division and the Division of Homeland Safety have issued notices alerting legislation enforcement to terrorism fears related to Ramadan. The notices, obtained by ABC Information, warned that “malicious actors from throughout the ideological spectrum could view Ramadan as a really perfect time to commit assaults.”
The evaluation displays prior focused acts of violence, disrupted plots and up to date violent extremist propaganda.
“The present dynamic risk atmosphere necessitates elevated vigilance at mass gatherings, homes of worship, and Muslim/Jewish group occasions, particularly in the course of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan,” the NYPD doc mentioned.
The DHS doc famous that messaging from international terrorist organizations calling for violence throughout Ramadan “provides to a heightened concern of homegrown violent extremist assaults following the 2025 New Yr’s ISIS-inspired assault in New Orleans, doubtless elevating the potential for violence from HVEs [homegrown violent extremists] throughout this yr’s observance.”
ABC Information’ Aaron Katersky, Josh Margolin, Joe Simonetti and Zoe Magee contributed to this report.
