MAGDEBURG and LONDON — A judge granted an arrest warrant for murder on Saturday for the suspect accused of killing five people by allegedly plowing a car into a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, police said on Sunday.
A German official in the city of Magdeburg separately confirmed to ABC News that the suspect, Taleb Al-Abdulmohsen, 50, who is originally from Saudi Arabia, appeared before a German judge in Magdeburg on Saturday. A local state prosecutor said during a press conference on Saturday that the suspect’s first name is “Taleb,” but police have not otherwise publicly named him.
A judge ordered “pre-trial detention for five counts of murder and multiple counts of both attempted murder and causing grievous bodily harm,” Magdeburg’s police department said in a statement issued in German on Sunday morning.
Candles and flowers sit in front of the Christmas market early Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, in Magdeburg, Germany, after a car drove into a crowd at the market on Friday, Dec. 20.
Sebastian Kahnert/AP
The police statement listed the ages and gender of the five people killed, saying they were a 9-year-old boy, and four women, aged 45, 52, 67 and 75.
At least 200 more people were injured on Friday when a car plowed into festive market-goers in the eastern German city, around 75 miles west of the capital Berlin, according to Minister President of Saxony-Anhalt Reiner Haseloff.
At least 41 of those injured in the attack are in serious condition, according to police. Their lives are still thought to be in danger, according to Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
A suspect — a doctor from Saudi Arabia aged around 50 — was arrested, Haselhoff said. The man has lived in Germany since 2006. A rental car was used in the attack, the minister said.
A police officer guards the Christmas Market, where a car drove into a crowd on Friday evening, in Magdeburg, Germany, on Sunday morning, Dec. 22, 2024.
Michael Probst/AP
The first emergency call came in at 7:02 p.m. local time and the driver was stopped within three minutes of the attack, according to a police official. Police believe the suspect entered via the space left open for emergency vehicles to access the area.
Police said they believe the suspect acted alone. The prosecutor said they are still clarifying a motive behind the attack.
Germany’s Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told reporters on Saturday that it was “clear to see” that the suspect had “Islamophobic views.”
Police said the suspect has undergone physical and psychological exams, but police do not yet have the results.
The Magdeburg Christmas market will be closed for the remainder of the season, police told reporters Saturday.
ABC News’ Victoria Beaule, Emily Shapiro, Aaron Katersky, Meredith Deliso, David Brennan and Nadine El-Bawab contributed to this report.
