Two people were killed and three seriously injured when a car drove through a busy shopping area in the eastern German city on Monday, authorities said, the latest in a spate of such incidents in recent years in the country, News.Az reports, citing The Independent.
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The driver, a 33-year-old German citizen named in local media as Jeffrey K, was stopped and detained in the car. Police said he was a German-born resident, and that he was under investigation on suspicion of murder and attempted murder.
The Saxon Ministry of Social Affairs told public broadcaster MDR that the suspect had been discharged from a mental health clinic at the end of April, after checking in voluntarily.
“During his stay at the clinic, he posed no danger to himself or others,” a spokesperson for the ministry said, according to the outlet, adding that there were “no medical grounds” to stop him from leaving.
The statement contradicted earlier reports that the suspect was released on Sunday, the day before the incident.
It also contradicted claims he had been expelled from the psychiatric ward over aggressive behaviour towards other patients.
The interior minister of Saxony state, Armin Schuster, said investigators believe the man acted alone, adding that rage and “psychological instability” are often factors in such cases, but declining to speculate on this case.
Authorities are yet to share a possible motive but believe the incident was a deliberate rampage, according to mayor Burkhard Jung.
“We are mourning two deaths, currently three seriously injured people, and many others who were injured,” Jung told journalists at a media briefing on Monday evening. “It’s impossible to find the right words for this horrific attack,” he added.
Early findings from the police investigation do not suggest the perpetrator had a political or religious motive, according to German newspaper Welt.
A damaged Volkswagen SUV with a person on top of the vehicle was seen speeding through a pedestrian zone, local broadcaster Radio Leipzig reported.
Police conducted a large-scale operation in the area with multiple emergency vehicles and road closures.
The victims have been identified only as a 63-year-old woman and a 77-year-old man, both from Germany, according to police.
