Who is Magdeburg market attack suspect? What we know so far

On Friday evening, a man drove his car into a crowd of shoppers at the Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany.

The attack killed five people, including a nine-year-old boy, and injured more than 200 people, many of whom were in critical condition.

The judge ordered the pre-trial detention of a 50-year-old man who was arrested on suspicion of carrying out the attack.

Police believe he acted alone.

The first call was made to emergency services at 19:02 local time (18:02 GMT).

The caller reported that a car had plowed into a crowd at a Christmas market in the middle of the city.

Police said the caller assumed it was an accident, but it quickly became clear that wasn’t the case.

Police said the driver used the traffic lights to block the road, go to the pedestrian crossing, direct himself to the entrance point of the market reserved for emergency vehicles, and many people were injured on the way.

Unverified footage on social media showed the driver accelerating at the pedestrian crossing between the Christmas stalls.

Witnesses described him jumping out of the way of the car, running away or hiding.

Police said the driver then returned to the road the way he came and was forced to stop in traffic. Officers who were already at the store were able to catch and arrest the driver there.

The footage shows armed police confronting and arresting a man seen lying on the ground next to a stationary vehicle, a black BMW with significant damage to its front bumper and windshield.

Police said the entire incident was over within three minutes.

A nine-year-old boy and four women aged 45, 52, 67 and 75 were confirmed dead in the attack.

More than 200 people were injured and at least 41 of them are in critical condition.

The death toll was previously reported as two dead and 68 injured, but was revised to much higher figures on Saturday morning.

None of the victims have yet been identified.

According to information obtained by the BBC, it was learned that the suspect was identified as Taleb al-Abdulmohsen in local media reports.

He is a 50-year-old Saudi-born psychiatrist living in Bernburg, about 40 km (25 miles) south of Magdeburg.

Police said the man was detained on suspicion of five counts of murder, multiple counts of attempted murder and inflicting dangerous bodily harm.

The motive for the attack remains unclear, but authorities said they believe he carried out the attack alone.

Al-Abdulmohsen came to Germany in 2006 and was recognized as a refugee in 2016.

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told reporters that it was “clearly apparent” that the suspect had “Islamophobic” views.

The suspect ran a website aimed at helping other ex-Muslims escape persecution in their Gulf homelands and was the subject of a BBC interview about it in 2019.

On social media, he is an outspoken critic of Islam and has promoted conspiracy theories about German officials’ alleged Islamic Europe.

Magdeburg police chief Tom-Oliver Langhans said police had previously made an assessment of whether the suspect posed a potential threat, but “this discussion took place a year ago”.

It is believed that one of these notices came from Saudi Arabian officials.

A source close to the Saudi government told the BBC that four official communications, known as “Verbal Notes”, were sent to German officials, warning them that al-Abdulmohsen had “very extreme views”.

But a counter-terrorism expert told the BBC that the Saudis may be launching a disinformation campaign to discredit someone trying to help young Saudi women seeking asylum in Germany.

Holger Münch, head of the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), told public broadcaster ZDF that his office received a notification from Saudi Arabia in November 2023. Münch said local police had taken appropriate investigative measures but was not specific.

He added that the suspect “had various contacts with the authorities, insulting them and even making threats, but he is not known for acts of violence.”

“Reports from Magdeburg increase the worst fears,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on social media platform X.

According to German public broadcaster MDR, Magdeburg city council public order member Ronni Krug said the Christmas market would remain closed and “Christmas is over in Magdeburg”.

This sentiment was echoed on the market’s website, which featured only words of mourning following the attack and a black screen announcing the end of the market.

In its statement about X, the Saudi government expressed its “solidarity with the German people and the families of the victims” and “confirmed its rejection of violence”.

British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said in a post on X on Friday night that he was “horrified by the horrific attack in Magdeburg”, adding that his thoughts were “with the victims, their families and everyone affected”.