German authorities said they received information last year about the suspect in a car attack at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, while more details emerged on Sunday about the five people killed.
Authorities identified the suspect as a Saudi doctor who arrived in Germany in 2006 and had received permanent residency. Police have not publicly named the suspect, in line with privacy rules, but some German media outlets have identified him as Taleb A. and reported that he was a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy.
Authorities say he does not fit the usual profile of perpetrators of extremist attacks. He described himself as a former Muslim highly critical of Islam and in many social media posts expressed support for the far-right anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
He is detained while authorities investigate him.
The head of the Federal Criminal Police Office, Holger Münch, said Saturday in an interview on German broadcaster ZDF that his office received a notice from Saudi Arabia in November 2023, prompting authorities to implement “measures.” of appropriate research.
“The man also published a large number of posts on the Internet. He also had contact with various authorities, uttered insults and even threats. However, he was not known to have committed any acts of violence,” said Münch, whose office is the German equivalent of the FBI.
However, the warnings turned out to be very nonspecific, he said.
The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees also informed X on Saturday that it received a tip about the suspect at the end of summer last year.
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“This was taken seriously, like any other of the numerous tips,” the office said. But he also noted that he is not an investigating authority and that he forwarded the information to the responsible authorities. He did not give other details.
The Central Council of Ex-Muslims said in a statement that the suspect had “terrorized” them for years and expressed shock at the attack.
“He apparently shared beliefs with the far-right AfD spectrum and believed in a large-scale conspiracy aimed at Islamizing Germany. “His delusional ideas went so far that he assumed that even organizations critical of Islam were part of the Islamist conspiracy,” the statement said.
The group's president, Mina Ahadi, said in the same statement: “At first we suspected that he could be a mole in the Islamist movement. But now I think he is a psychopath who adheres to far-right conspiratorial ideologies.”
Police in Magdeburg, capital of the state of Saxony-Anhalt, said on Sunday that four women aged 45, 52, 67 and 75, as well as a 9-year-old boy, were killed.
Authorities said 200 people were injured, including 41 in serious condition. They were being treated at several hospitals in Magdeburg, which is about 130 kilometers (80 miles) west of Berlin, and beyond.
The suspect was brought before a judge on Saturday afternoon, who behind closed doors ordered him detained in custody on charges of murder and attempted murder. He faces possible indictment.
The horror unleashed by another act of mass violence in Germany makes it likely that migration will remain a key issue as the country approaches an early election on February 23. A deadly knife attack in Solingen in August pushed the issue to the top of the list. the agenda and led the government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz to tighten border security measures.
Right-wing figures across Europe have criticized German authorities for allowing high levels of migration in the past and for what they now see as security failures.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, known for his strong anti-immigration stance for years, used the attack in Germany to attack the European Union's migration policies and described it as a “terrorist act.”
At an annual press conference in Budapest on Saturday, Orbán insisted that “there is no doubt that there is a link between the changed world in Western Europe, the migration that flows there, especially illegal migration and terrorist acts.”
Orbán promised to “fight back” against the EU's migration policies, alleging without evidence that “Brussels wants Magdeburg to also happen to Hungary.”
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