While the picture is unclear because many were ‘walking wounded’ who left the scene without talking to medics, it is thought the Leipzig car attack may have struck as many as 80 people on Monday.
The alleged driver of a car that was ploughed through crowds on a busy shopping street and a historic market square appeared before a court on Tuesday after being arrested at the scene on Monday afternoon. The suspect, a 33-year-old German citizen, is said to be a local amateur boxing coach.
Police say they do not believe the car being driven through the crowds was accidental and they are treating it as a deliberate attack, but say they don’t believe there is any political or religious motivation, NTV reports. The alleged perpetrator was already known to police, it is said, and had left a psychiatric hospital the day before the attack.
If the facts as presented turn out to be true, the deaths in Leipzig may again speak to state failure, where a patient at a mental hospital has been allegedly expelled after violence towards staff and fellow inmates, exposing the general public to this danger rather than transferring the individual to a more secure unit.
On Monday afternoon, a car was driven at speeds of “at least” 50 kilometres per hour (30mph) through the pedestrianised city centre of Leipzig, eastern Germany. As reported on Monday, two people were declared dead at the scene, and they have now been identified as a 63 year old woman and 77 year old man reports Die Welt.
The number of injured has remained unclear, although it has quickly risen from around a dozen to as many as 80. Three of those are said to be seriously injured and in critical condition, but the total number is unclear as many lightly injured individuals are thought to have left the scene without checking in with paramedics to either check themselves into hospital or go home.
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