Mannheim: Investigators on Tuesday will question a driver who allegedly rammed a car into a crowd in the southwestern German city of Mannheim, killing two people and injuring 11.
Andreas Stenger, head of the State Criminal Police Office, told German news agency dpa that police hope the interview with the perpetrator will lead to information about a motive for Monday’s attack.
Mourners, including Sara Stefini, left flowers in the city’s center Tuesday to honour the victims.
“It’s where I live, the centre of my life,” a tearful Stefini told dpa at the impromptu memorial.
The suspect is a 40-year-old German man from the nearby state of Rhineland-Palatinate who was detained and is in a hospital after being injured, State Interior Minister Thomas Strobl of Baden-Wurttemberg, which includes Mannheim, told dpa on Monday.
Strobl later told reporters in Mannheim that “as far as the specific motivation of the crime is concerned, we have no indication of an extremist or religious background at the moment. The motivation could rather be based in the person of the perpetrator himself.”
German police and prosecutors said Monday at a joint news conference that the driver intentionally rammed his car into people and is being investigated for murder and attempted murder. Five of the 11 injured were seriously hurt.
Police and prosecutors said the driver shot himself in the mouth when he was arrested and had to undergo medical treatment at a hospital.
While the driver did not seem to be ideologically motivated, prosecutors said that the man, whose identity was not revealed in line with German privacy rules, has several previous convictions.
He served a short prison sentence for assault more than 10 years ago, and was convicted for drunken driving.