NEW: Another Car Attack in Germany; UPDATE: Suspect Arrested; UPDATE: Two Dead

Yet another attack on a holiday crowd in Germany has taken place. Once again, someone drove a car into a festive pedestrian gathering, killing one person and injuring several others. German police are treating this as a “security situation,” but are keeping their mouths shut about the suspect and his/her condition. 

“It’s Carnival time in Germany,” the BBC notes, a lead-up to the Christian observation of Ash Wednesday. They also note that the previous attack in Magdeburg took place around the Christian holiday of Christmas:

Anyone else seeing a pattern? The New York Times does, cautiously:

There have been several recent attacks with vehicles in Germany. Two weeks ago, a 24-year-old Afghan man who was seeking asylum purposefully drove into a union demonstration in Munich, killing a 2-year-old and her mother and wounding several dozen others.

And in December, a Saudi doctor who had been living in Germany for more than a decade is suspected of having driven his car into a Christmas market in the central city of Magdeburg, killing six people and injuring hundreds of others.

Mannheim, which has a population of about 320,000, was in the headlines last year when an Afghan citizen living in Germany stabbed people at a far-right demonstration, killing a police officer who had rushed in to stop the attack.

Sky News describes the setting as a high-end shopping district in Mannheim, one that is “primarily pedestrianized.” The attack took place at lunchtime, when the streets would be the most crowded. Initial reports suggested that the vehicle was an SUV, but the investigators have cordoned off a damaged sedan instead. 

There may not be many confirmable details for a while, but we will keep a close eye on the story and update this post as necessary. Stay tuned, but given the string now of very similar attacks recently by radical Islamist ‘lone wolves,’ this may have some impact on the formation of a German government after the recent election. Immigration and assimilation issues had already been high priorities for German voters, and if this does turn out to be a terrorist attack, that will only grow more acute. 

Stay tuned. 

Update: Sky News offered a recap a few minutes ago, and asserted that police had detained one suspect:

• Several were “seriously injured” after a black vehicle rammed into crowds;
• A witness told Reuters they saw people lying on the ground and two being resuscitated;
• A suspect has been taken into custody, police spokesperson Stefan Wilhelm said;

No word on the identity or other details of the suspect have yet been released. The injuries sound as though they are life-threatening to some, so the death toll could rise. We still don’t have a tally on total injured yet, though, so stand by for more details as they emerge. 

Update: Sky News (again) cautions against assuming that this was a deliberate attack:

There’s been a spate of ramming attacks across Germany in recent months (see 13.39 post).

However, it’s still unclear whether today’s incident in Mannheim was accidental or deliberate. 

Technically, I suppose it’s worth caution. The driver has been arrested, but that would happen in an accidental situation where people died or were seriously injured. But this has been described as a walking district. The car shouldn’t have been there at all, presumably. And given the recent pattern, everyone can be forgiven for suspecting that the collision with pedestrians was deliberate. I’d be more cautious about assuming motive than intent. 

Update: The death toll has ticked up, unfortunately:

#BREAKING Death toll rises to two after car hit crowd in German city of Mannheim: state minister pic.twitter.com/qTnd6Arjtt

— AFP News Agency (@AFP) March 3, 2025

A state official has told media that the suspect is a “German national,” and police have referred to him as a “lone perpetrator.” That’s all we have on identity and potential motive at this time. 

Note: The front-page image is from the earlier attack in Magdeburg in December.