Nine-month-old baby dead after shocking attack in Germany shopping street
A baby is among five people killed and over a dozen injured after a car drove into Christmas shoppers in the southwestern German city of Trier on Tuesday.
Trier mayor Wolfram Leibe said the driver, a 51-year-old German man who was arrested by police, had gone “on a rampage”.
Onlookers described seeing a pram “flying through the air” as the SUV ploughed into pedestrians at intense speed just after 1:30pm local time, leaving a trail of carnage for about a kilometre before coming to a halt.
Mr Leibe revealed the driver had caused “several deaths and injuries”.
Tearing up, Mr Leibe recalled the moment he discovered a child’s shoe on the street near the body of a young girl.
“It’s a horror scene,” he said. “Many people are traumatised. I think this is Trier’s darkest day since World War II.”
Police said the suspect’s car drove in a zig zag motion through the city centre in what seems to be a deliberate attack.
The Range Rover stopped near the city’s old Roman gate and the suspect was arrested at the scene after being pinned to the ground by police.
According to German police, four people were killed including a nine-month-old baby and a local woman, 73.
The other victims include a 25-year-old woman from Trier and a man, 45, also from Trier.
The death toll is currently at five.
Nine others have been left “seriously injured” with six wounded following the horrifying attack.
The mother of the baby is one of those being treated in hospital.
Police spokesman Uwe Konz told AFP it remained unclear what exactly had happened, saying “the background still needs to be clarified”.
Police later said the man was drunk when he allegedly carried out the attack.
“There are no indications of a politically motivated background,” police said in a statement.
Local media has identified the man at Bernd W. who has previously been described as a “strange individual” who is “quick-tempered and sometimes aggressive” according to his neighbours.
Due to German privacy laws, the alleged attackers full name cannot be published.