A car plowed through a crowd on Grimmaische Straße in central Leipzig on Monday afternoon, killing two people and injuring 22 others, two of them seriously, according to local authorities.
Police spokesperson Susanne Luebcke said the driver entered Augustusplatz at around 17:35 local time and continued down Grimmaische Street past the market before coming to a stop. Officers arrested a 33-year-old German citizen at the scene. Leipzig's fire chief, Axel Shuh, confirmed the injury count. Two fatalities were reported.
One eyewitness told Radio Leipzig that the car came to rest against bollards and that a woman fell from its roof. About 15 bystanders gathered around the vehicle and attempted to pull the driver out through an open window. The driver tried to escape through a passenger window but was restrained by police, who secured his hands with cable ties.
Leipzig Mayor Burkhard Jung confirmed the arrest and said authorities had not yet determined a motive. Michael Kretschmer, minister-president of Saxony, said the suspect had previously suffered from mental illness.
Police said they were treating the incident as a violent rampage carried out by a lone perpetrator and said there was no ongoing threat to public safety.
Germany has seen a series of vehicle attacks in recent years. In December 2024, a car drove into a Christmas market in Magdeburg, killing at least six people and wounding more than 300. In February of last year, a car struck a crowd in Munich, injuring at least 30 people.
