A surveillance camera captured the moment a speeding car ran into a crowd of people at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany.
The video showed the car running into the people, at a point, the vehicle seemed to slow down due to the impact of so many people it had crushed before it took a right turn and accelerated again.
The footage continued with the aftermath of the pre-Christmas disaster showing the injured scattered on the ground and receiving medical aid – ambulances blaring out loud and doctors and firefighters all hands on deck.
Watch the video below:
The driver was subsequently caught and arrested. His pre-Christmas day attack left 5 people dead, 200 others injured of which 40 of them are in critical condition.
The driver behind the attack was informally identified as 50-year-old Taleb Abd AlMohsen, a migrant from Saudi Arabia who came to Germany as a refugee. He had been living in Saxony-Anhalt since 2006 where he worked as a medical psychiatrist and psychotherapy and got his permanent residency in 2016.
Contrary to public sentiments, Taleb Abd AlMohsen did not portray himself as a radicalized Islamist but rather claimed he was a former Muslim and “the most aggressive critic of Islam in history”.
He criticized religion in many of his social media posts and berated Germany and Europe in general for folding its hands and allowing Islam to take over the Christian-dominated and secular nations.
He also aligned with the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, the far-right that stood out for its anti-immigration stance. According to Free Press Journal, the terrorist said he was an atheist who was persecuted while living in Germany.
As more details about the suspect unfolded, a post on Twitter X claimed that a Saudi woman living in Germany had alerted the authorities in September 2023 about the suspect’s plan to kill many people by running over them with his car.
She said alerted the police via email because she was not in Germany at that time, but they did not take any action.
In a follow-up post, the bewildered woman who could not understand why the man was yet to be arrested, reported that the suspect was out to kill Germans following a tweet he made where he said; “do you blame me if I kill 20 German people”.
The German police, who did not disclose the suspect’s full name, said he acted alone and there were no further threats. Saudi Arabia, in a statement from its Foreign Ministry, condemned the attack, cited its stance against any form of violence, sent its condolences to the bereaved, and wished the injured a speedy recovery.