MAGDEBURG and LONDON — The judge ordered the arrest of the suspect accused of murder on Saturday killing five people presumably by driving a car christmas Magdeburg Market, Germanysaid the police on Sunday.
A German official in the city of Magdeburg separately confirmed to ABC News that the suspect, Taleb Al-Abdulmohsen, 50, originally from Saudi Arabia, appeared before a German judge in Magdeburg on Saturday. A local state prosecutor said at a news conference Saturday that the suspect’s first name is “Taleb,” but police have not publicly named him.
A judge “ordered preventive detention for five counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder and multiple counts of grievous bodily harm,” Magdeburg’s police department said in a statement issued in German on Sunday morning.
Candles and flowers sit in front of a Christmas market early Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, in Magdeburg, Germany, after a car rammed into the crowd on Friday, Dec. 20.
Sebastian Kahnert/AP
The police statement listed the ages and genders of the five people killed, saying they were a 9-year-old boy, and four women aged 45, 52, 67 and 75.
At least 200 more people were injured on Friday in the eastern German city, 75 kilometers west of the capital Berlin, when a car plowed into festive fairgoers, Saxony-Anhalt ministerial president Reiner Haseloff said.
At least 41 of those injured in the attack are serious, according to the police. Their lives are believed to be in danger, according to Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
One suspect — a Saudi Arabian doctor in his 50s — was arrested, Haselhoff said. The man has been living in Germany since 2006. A rental car was used in the attack, the minister said.
A police officer guards the Christmas Market, where a car drove into the crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, Sunday morning, Dec. 22, 2024.
Michael Probst/AP
The first emergency call came in at 7:02 p.m. local time, and the driver stopped three minutes after the attack, according to police. Police believe the suspect entered through a space left open for emergency vehicles to enter the area.
Police believe the suspect acted alone. Prosecutors say they are still investigating a motive behind the attack.
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told reporters that it was “clear to see” that the suspect had “Islamophobic views”.
The police said that physical and psychological examinations have been carried out on the suspect, but the police do not yet have the results.
Magdeburg’s Christmas market will be closed for the rest of the season, police told reporters on Saturday.
ABC News’ Victoria Beaule, Emily Shapiro, Aaron Katersky, Meredith Deliso, David Brennan and Nadine El-Bawab contributed to this report.
