MANNHEIM, Germany - Alexander Scheuermann, 40, drove into a crowd in the western German city of Mannheim on Monday. He has no criminal records and is possibly suffering from mental illness, according to the general prosecutor of the city.
“According to the information we have obtained, the suspect is a 40-year-old German citizen who apparently lived alone without family in Ludwigshafen and has not previously appeared in criminal records to any significant extent,” Romeo Schussler, a senior public prosecutor in Mannheim, told Rudaw.
Security remains a key concern in Germany following recent violent attacks, including car ramming attacks in Magdeburg last December and Munich last month, and a stabbing in Mannheim in May 2024.
Chief of police in Mannheim said two people were killed. Several others were injured.
“A car has hit several people in the pedestrian zone. Initially, it was thought to be a traffic accident, but witness statements very quickly strengthened our suspicion that it was a deliberate drive at high speed in the pedestrian zone, where there was a conscious acceptance of injuring people, or unfortunately also killing them. We have two people dead and at the moment we know of eleven people injured, some seriously,” Ulrike Schafer said.
