Shooting in Magdeburg – arrest warrant: psychiatrist must now be taken into custody

Police said early Sunday morning that he was to be taken into custody on charges of five counts of murder, multiple counts of attempted murder and multiple counts of grievous bodily harm. On Saturday, countless people commemorated the victims in the cathedral. Five people were killed: four women and a boy.

The car drove into the crowd at the Christmas market at high speed on Friday evening. Four women aged 45, 52, 67 and 75 and a nine-year-old boy were killed, authorities said. Another 200 people were injured. Many of them suffered serious and serious injuries, meaning the death toll could continue to rise. The suspect is a doctor from Bernburg who is known as an Islam critic and comes from Saudi Arabia and has lived in Germany since 2006.

Look for the motive
The senior prosecutor, Horst Walter Nopens, spoke on Saturday about the possible motive of the alleged perpetrator: it could be dissatisfaction with the treatment of refugees in Germany. The arrested man presented himself on social networks as a fierce critic of Islam and the repressive power apparatus in Saudi Arabia. At the same time, he campaigned for the interests of mainly women from his extremely conservative home country. In social media and interviews, he recently made somewhat confusing accusations against German authorities, accusing them, among other things, of not doing enough to combat Islamism.

According to information from the German Press Agency, the suspect says he used to be Muslim, but has since turned away from the faith. In February 2016, he applied for asylum, which was approved in July of the same year. The Saudi citizen was granted asylum at the time as a politically persecuted person.

Just about ten days ago, the American platform ‘RAIR’, which describes itself as an anti-Muslim grassroots organization, published an interview with the doctor that lasted more than 45 minutes. In it, he accused German police of deliberately destroying the lives of Saudi asylum seekers who had renounced Islam. He also presented himself as a fan of X owner Elon Musk, who now represents the positions of the American right, and the AfD, which pursues the same goals as him. At the same time, however, he described himself politically as left-wing.

BKA: No indications of an Islamist-motivated attack
BKA boss Holger Münch explained in the ZDF “heute journal” that – in contrast to similar acts in the past – there was no evidence of an Islamist-motivated attack. The federal attorney general also has no clarity about how the case should be classified. According to the head of the Federal Criminal Police, the suspect had an Islamophobic attitude and was also involved in right-wing extremist platforms. However, it is not yet possible to say with certainty that the act was politically motivated.

As is often the case in such cases, the question is now being discussed whether the security authorities could or should have acted sooner. Terrorism expert Peter Neumann said on ZDF that the suspect did not fit a certain pattern. “He was not a typical Islamist. He was a Saudi who turned against Islam. “That doesn’t really fit into the usual schedules of authorities.” Moreover, today there is a flood of information from thousands of people sending similar messages over the Internet. “And it is very, very difficult to distinguish: who is serious and who is just on the Internet making jokes?”

How did the car get to the Advent market?
The suspected perpetrator allegedly came to the Christmas market in his car via an escape and rescue route, reports police inspection director Tom-Oliver Langhans from Magdeburg. The discussion then focused on whether the market was sufficiently protected. Ronni Krug, the city’s representative for human resources, civil services and order, said: The security concept for the market was created “to the best of our knowledge and belief” and was last tightened in November.

However, extremism expert Hans-Jakob Schindler expressed doubts about Magdeburg’s security concept in the ARD “Tagesthemen”. It has been known for years that vehicles and crowds are a very dangerous combination. It is therefore “difficult to explain why a vehicle managed to reach a Christmas market in Germany.”