Man drives van into restaurant in Germany, killing at least two plus himself

Elke Ahlswede-APRIL 7, 2018

The Sueddeutsche Zeitung said the man was a German with psychological problems who had no terrorist background. The Interior Ministry in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, home to Muenster, would neither confirm nor deny the report.

Bode said the identity of the perpetrator was not yet clear. Investigators were looking at the possibility that other suspects fled the scene, though they had no evidence that this was the case, he added.

Police stands guard in a street near a place where a man drove a van into a group of people sitting outside a popular restaurant in the old city centre of Muenster, Germany, April 7, 2018.

REUTERS/Leon Kuegeler

“It is far too early to speak of an attack,” Bode said. “We have cordoned off the area widely. The crime scene investigators are checking out the crime scene, trying to identify, investigate and secure traces. That is our current task.”

The police spokeswoman said: “The danger is over.”

The incident came one year to the day after a truck attack in Stockholm that killed five people.

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It also evoked memories of a December 2016 truck attack in Berlin that killed 12 people. In that attack, Anis Amri, a failed Tunisian asylum seeker with Islamist links, hijacked a truck, killed the driver and then ploughed into a crowded marketplace, killing 11 more people and injuring dozens of others.

“I am shocked by the news from Muenster,” said Andrea Nahles, parliamentary leader of the Social Democrats, junior partner in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition.

“My thoughts are with the victims and their relatives,” she added. “I hope that our authorities can quickly clarify the background to this incident and wish the local forces much strength for their work.”

Government spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer tweeted: “Awful news from Muenster. Our thoughts are with the victims and their relatives.”