A man in a police vest is walking near a car that collided with a group of pedestrians in Berlin on June 8. MICHELE TANTUSSI / Reuters
On Thursday, authorities were yet to establish the motive for a 29-year-old Armenian-German man who crashed his car into a group of schoolchildren in Berlin, killing one teacher and leaving another fighting for his life. , but said he had no known links. to terrorism.
Investigators, with the help of a translator, tried to make sense of the “sometimes confusing statements he made” during interrogation, Berlin Mayor Franziska Giffey told RBB inforadio, describing a “dark day” in the history of Berlin “.
The crash injured about 30 people, including 14 students, seven of whom were seriously injured and rushed to hospital after the car veered off into a pedestrian area of the busy Charlottenburg shopping district. , in Berlin, according to police.
Families were mourning the teacher who was killed while taking schoolchildren on an end-of-year trip to the German capital from the small town of Bad Arolsen in the state of Hesse.
The suspect, who was naturalized as a German citizen in 2015, was previously known to police in connection with incidents of bodily injury and intrusion, said Iris Spranger, Berlin’s interior minister.
Police had searched his home. State Attorney Sebastian Buechner told reporters that “as part of the searches, drugs were found and the man, through his lawyers, released his doctors from the obligation of secrecy … so many point to paranoid schizophrenia. “
The incident took place near the site of a deadly attack in 2016, when a truck crashed into a crowded Christmas market.
A witness at the scene said the driver had immediately shown remorse when he collided after the crash.
“I was surrounded by five or six men, not stopped but surrounded (gestures) so that I could not run away,” said Markus Leppmeier. “He was also injured, he had a laceration to his head, a very big blow and he kept saying ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t want to, I’m sorry.'”
Bad Arolsen residents fought back tears over an incident that brought back memories of an attack on the neighboring town of Volkmarsen, when a man crashed his car into a 2020 carnival parade and injured dozens, including 20 children.
“He’s got a lot of photos of Volkmarsen back,” said Ellen Schreck, 45, whose son went to her group’s school. He described the situation as “absolute horror”.
“It’s usually a small, quiet town … you always think you’re in a safe bubble here. But that’s not the case anymore.”
People laid flowers and candles at the Kaulbach school, which was closed on Thursday. Parents and a school team have traveled to Berlin to help care for the children.
“We are all deeply saddened,” said Almut Will-Olivieri, owner of a pizzeria at the school. “The city is just in shock.”
Of the students who had gone to Berlin, 17 have returned to Hesse, some with their parents and others on a specially organized bus. Along with police, a team of mental health workers worked at the school to support the children.
“This is a very difficult day for us and we have a very heavy heart,” State Prime Minister Boris Rhein said during a visit to the school.
“It will continue to take effect for a long time.”
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