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

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

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

A judge has ordered that a 50-year-old man who was arrested on suspicion of having committed the attack be imprisoned.

Police believe he acted alone.

At 19:02 (18:02 GMT), the first emergency call was made.

The caller reported that a car had plowed into a crowd of people at the Christmas market in the town centre.

The caller thought it was an accident, police said, but it soon became clear that was not the case.

The driver, the police said, used the lights to turn off the road and enter the pedestrian crossing, leading him through the entrance to the market where dangerous vehicles were kept, injuring several people on the way.

Unconfirmed footage on social media showed the driver speeding the car down a pedestrian street in the middle of Christmas shopping.

Eyewitnesses described jumping out of the way of the vehicle, running away or hiding.

Police say the driver went back onto the road the way he came in and was forced to stop. The police who were already present at the market were able to catch and arrest the driver here.

The video showed armed police officers struggling to arrest a man who was seen lying on the ground next to an immobilized car – a black BMW with extensive damage to its front bumper and windscreen.

The entire incident was over in three minutes, police said.

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

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

The threat was initially reported at two dead and 68 injured, but was upgraded to the highest on Saturday morning.

None of the victims have yet been identified.

The suspect was identified in local media as Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, the BBC understands.

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

He is being held on suspicion of five counts of murder, multiple counts of attempted murder and grievous bodily harm, police said.

The motive behind the attack is still unclear, but authorities say they believe he carried out the attack alone.

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

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told reporters that “it is clear that the suspect has Islamophobic views”.

The suspect is an outspoken anti-Islamist on social media, and has fueled conspiracy theories about a plan German officials say they want to Islamise Europe.

Magdeburg police chief Tom-Oliver Langhans said the police had conducted an investigation to determine whether the suspect could pose a threat, “but this discussion took place one year ago”.

One of the items he introduced is believed to have come from Saudi Arabia.

A source close to the Saudi government told the BBC that it had sent four reports known as “Notes Verbal” to German officials, warning them of what they said were “dangerous ideas” carried out by al-Abdulmohsen.

However, a counter-terrorism expert told the BBC that the Saudis may be launching a campaign against a man who tried to help young Saudi women seek asylum in Germany.

The head of the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), Holger Münch, told the ZDF reporter that his office received information from Saudi Arabia in November 2023. He said that the local police carried out the necessary investigations, but the matter was not reported.

He added that the suspect “is in contact with various authorities, insulting and threatening them, but is not known to be violent”.

“The reports from Magdeburg are causing great alarm,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on radio X.

Magdeburg city councilor for public order, Ronni Krug, said that the Christmas market will remain closed and that “Christmas in Magdeburg is over”, according to German journalist MDR.

Those sentiments were echoed on the market’s website, which after the attack only showed a black screen with an exclamation point, announcing that the market was closed.

The Saudi government expressed “solidarity with the German people and the families of the victims”, in its statement on X, and “affirmed its rejection of violence”.

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he was “appalled by the horrific attack in Magdeburg”, adding that his thoughts were with “the victims, their families and all those affected” in a tweet on Friday night.