Magdeburg: Shortly after the crime, people’s anger boiled over

Anyone approaching the east of Magdeburg will notice as soon as they arrive that this city is in a state of emergency. Ambulances with flashing lights come towards you every minute on the arterial roads. The closer you get to the crime scene, the more cars there are.

A few hours after a man killed at least two people and injured 60 in a rental car, the area of ​​the Christmas market was cordoned off. The warm yellow Christmas lights on the buildings appear in the glow of the blue lights of the emergency vehicles and almost like a mockery in view of the bloody crime.

In the evening, two police press spokesmen informed journalists at the barrier tape around 200 meters from the crime scene. At this time there were numerous rumors circulating that there could be other assassins in the city. So far there is only evidence of one perpetrator, a spokeswoman clarifies.

A short time later, the identity of the suspect was known. Taleb A., 50 years old, born in Saudi Arabia. A specialist in psychiatry who is said to have lived in Germany since 2006 and who, as WELT learned, is said to have even worked as a doctor in the penal system in Bernburg – a state facility for the improvement of addicted criminals.

As numerous posts on social media indicate, A. himself adopted increasingly radical positions and ideas. He presented himself online as an opponent of Islam. He raised money to publish a book against religion and posted increasingly explicit messages on social media over the years. Finally, in individual posts he even vows bloody revenge against Germany. He was apparently surprised that he was being persecuted by the state for not doing enough against Islam.

Attack on bystanders

The exact motive of the alleged perpetrator is still unclear, but one thing seems to be confirmed: it was not an Islamist attack, which everyone initially assumed. Several right-wing organizations had already invited people to rallies on Saturday.

The mood is correspondingly heated. This becomes apparent just a few hours after the crime in the immediate vicinity of the crime scene. A man in his mid-30s walks past the Karstadt department store. He has dark skin and could be of Arab origin. He’s wearing headphones and walking briskly when a group of six men run up to him, shouting at him and pushing him for no reason whatsoever. The man tried to defend himself. The result: He ends up with a bloody nose.

What happened is likely to leave even more serious marks on others. A police officer reports that employees of the public order office were the first to arrive at the scene and had to end their duties early due to the psychological stress. “It’s one thing if you’re standing here at the police tape and monitoring the operations area.” “But it’s something completely different if you were at the crime scene immediately after the crime and had to treat the injured or even rescue the dead,” says the officer.

In Bernburg, too, at the suspect’s apartment, the mood was tense shortly after midnight. A police vehicle has pulled up, three officers are sitting in it, the engine is running. One of the men has a submachine gun at the ready. Lights are on in several windows in the apartment. Apparently the police are waiting for reinforcements before they search Taleb A.’s apartment. They do not seem to rule out the possibility that he also procured explosives for his perfidious campaign.

Collaboration: Lennart Pfahler