MAGDEBURG, Germany 9-year-old was among five people killed when a Saudi doctor drove into a Christmas market teeming with holiday shoppers in the German city of Magdeburg, an official said Saturday, as people mourned the victims and their shaken sense of security.
City official Ronni Krug said he lacked further information on the adults whom someone killed on Friday night. He said that 200 people suffered injuries, and 41 of them were in serious or very serious condition.
Prosecutor Horst Nopens said a 50-year-old Saudi doctor is being investigated. He is suspected of murder, attempted murder, and causing bodily harm. He is currently being questioned. He has lived in Germany since 2006. He practices medicine in Bernburg, which is about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Magdeburg, officials said.
“There is no more peaceful and cheerful place than a Christmas market,” Chancellor Olaf Scholz said. “What a terrible act it is to injure and kill so many people there with such brutality.”
Neurosurgeon Mahmoud Elenbaby said that staff brought about 80 patients to Magdeburg’s university hospital on Friday night.
“We stabilized most of them, but many are still in intensive care. Some are in critical condition,” Elenbaby told The Associated Press. He rushed into the hospital cafeteria to buy a cola.
Several German media outlets named the suspect as Taleb A. They did not share his last name due to privacy laws. Reports say he was a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy.
Mourners lit candles and placed flowers outside a church near the market on the cold and gloomy day. Several people stopped and cried. A church choir in Berlin sang Amazing Grace. The members had seen a Christmas market attack in 2016. This hymn is about God’s mercy. They offered their prayers and support for the victims.
