dpa
Magdeburg, Germany
There were mounting questions on Sunday about whether the deadly attack on a German Christmas market could have been prevented after it emerged that various authorities across the country had received warnings and tip-offs about the perpetrator.
Five people were killed, including a child, and some 200 others wounded, when a man sped through the crowded Christmas market in the central city of Magdeburg on Friday evening. German authorities charged the suspect with numerous counts of murder, attempted murder and other charges, the police announced early Sunday morning.
The suspect, who has been identified as Taleb A according to German privacy laws, was charged with five counts of murder, multiple counts of attempted murder and multiple counts of inflicting grievous bodily harm and remains in pre-trial detention, the police said. The man had been brought before a judge on Saturday evening.
Investigators say the suspect acted alone, as there are currently no indications of a second perpetrator according to their findings.
Magdeburg is a city of some 237,000 people in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, some 150 kilometres west of Berlin. The perpetrator, a 50-year-old doctor originally from Saudi Arabia, who has lived in Germany for nearly two decades and had permanent residency, is in pre-trial detention on counts of murder, attempted murder and inflicting grievous bodily harm.
Two days after the car-ramming attack, Germany was still in shock and mourning. But law enforcement agencies were also facing questions about what they knew about the driver and whether the tragedy might have been averted.
The head of the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), Holger Münch, said his agency had received a tip-off from Saudi Arabia in November 2023 that led officers to investigate the attacker.
In an interview with public broadcaster ZDF, he said "appropriate investigative measures” had been taken, but that the warnings were unspecific.
"He had also had various contacts with authorities, made insults and even threats. But he was not known for violent acts,” said Münch of the doctor.
The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) said it received information about Taleb A in the late summer of 2023.
BAMF said on X it received information about the man via its social media and that the tip "was taken seriously.” The Sunday edition of the Welt newspaper reported on a woman who sent warnings about Taleb A to BAMF’s account on X at the end of 2023.
She had previously tried to warn the Berlin police about the man - however, her email did not arrive because she accidentally sent it to the police of a municipality called Berlin in the United States, the newspaper reported.