Berlin drama: driver admitted to psychiatry - 17 times accused of attempted murder
Created: 06/10/2022 04:56
By: Michelle Brey
On Wednesday, a man drove a car into a group of students and teachers in Berlin.
One person died, several were injured.
The news ticker.
Near Berlin's Breitscheidplatz: A 29-year-old steered a small car into a pedestrian group on Wednesday (June 8).
29 people were injured, some critically.
A teacher from Hesse died.
The driver's sister spoke up.
Politicians classify the incident as an "amoktat".
The perpetrator has now been admitted to a psychiatric ward - and has to face murder charges and 17 charges of attempted murder.
This news ticker about the deadly incident in Berlin is continuously updated.
Update from June 9, 8:50 p.m
.: As the Berlin public prosecutor announced at a press conference on Thursday afternoon, the 29-year-old perpetrator has now been admitted to a psychiatric ward.
"The Tiergarten district court has just issued the placement order requested by the public prosecutor's office," it said on the short message platform Twitter.
The German-Armenian, who is said to have a serious mental illness, now faces a number of charges, including one murder, 17 attempted murders of those seriously injured in the accident, and dangerously interfering with traffic.
Originally, he was to be accused of attempted murder for each of the 31 injured people, but the intention to kill has now ceased to apply in the less serious cases, as authorities spokesman Sebastian Büchner informed the German Press Agency.
Update from June 9, 3:23 p.m
.: The investigators have no indications of a terrorist background – “but an accident can also be ruled out against this background,” said Sebastian Büchner, spokesman for the Berlin public prosecutor’s office.
The investigators are assuming an intentional act.
According to Büchner, it has been confirmed that a mental illness was the reason for the crime.
Drugs were found when the 29-year-old driver's apartment was searched.
The accused had released his doctors from the duty of confidentiality.
Berlin: driver races in a crowd - prosecutors applied for placement in psychiatry
Update from June 9, 2:52 p.m
.: The Berlin Attorney General appeared before the press.
The suspicion against the driver had been confirmed.
There are indications that he suffers from a mental impairment.
Medicines were found.
There are signs of paranoid schizophrenia.
There are no indications of a terrorist background to the act.
The Berlin public prosecutor's office wants to temporarily place the 29-year-old gunman in a psychiatric ward.
A placement order will be applied for, said the authority's spokesman, chief public prosecutor Sebastian Büchner, on Thursday in the capital.
Update from June 9, 2:26 p.m
.: A press conference by the Berlin Attorney General’s Office on the death trip on Ku’damm is scheduled shortly.
We will then summarize the most important statements for you at this point.
also read
Accused after death drive in psychiatric ward
29 years old, known to the police and mentally ill: This is known about the death driver from Berlin
Car races in a group of people: Berliner feels reminded of the Breitscheidplatz assassination
Update from June 9, 2:01 p.m
.: "It's like a déjà vu," said a 60-year-old Berliner of the dpa news agency.
The death drive on Berlin's Ku'damm brought back memories of 2016, when an Islamist assassin drove into the Christmas market on Breitscheidplatz - he was there too, he says.
"When I read the message and the Memorial Church was displayed, I thought: No, again?"
Markings such as yellow color circles on the sidewalk still bear witness to the dramatic events.
People laid flowers and candles on Ku'damm in Berlin.
Car crashes into a crowd in Berlin: Interior Minister Faeser travels to the scene of the accident
Update from June 9, 1:32 p.m
.: After the death trip on Ku’damm, Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) got an impression of the situation at the scene.
Together with police chief Barbara Slowik, she visited the area at Breitscheidplatz and spoke to police officers.
Berlin: Car crashes into a crowd – "Have very heavy hearts"
Update from June 9th, 12.30 p.m .:
In a press conference, the Hessian Prime Minister Boris Rhein, Minister of Education Alexander Lorz, the District Administrator of the Waldeck-Frankenberg district, Jürgen van der Horst, and the Mayor of Bad Arolsen made statements.
The news made everyone “stunned”, said Rhein at the beginning of the PK.
"Of course, we are stunned that there was a group of students in Berlin who came to Berlin out of joy." It was their final trip, "that makes the matter all the more tragic," he continued.
The affected Kaulbach school, the victims and relatives should receive all possible support from the state of Hesse, he assured.
One day after the fatal incident in Berlin, Boris Rhein, Hessian Prime Minister, and Alexander Lorz, Hessian Minister of Education, spoke to the press.
© Swen Pförtner/dpa
Berlin: car races in a group of people - seven students and a teacher in Berlin hospitals
"Our thoughts are with the families of the victims," the Prime Minister continued.
17 students have already returned to Bad Arolsen, seven students are still in different hospitals in Berlin.
The injured teacher will also be cared for there.
The thoughts are also with the relatives of the deceased teacher, who was "an important anchor of the school community".
"This is a very difficult day for us, we have very heavy hearts," he said.
"It will continue to have an effect for a long time."
"All our sympathy is with everyone who will never get these pictures out of their heads, with the injured and with the relatives of the deceased teacher," said the Hessian Minister of Education Alexander Lorz.
"Great dismay" is spreading among the population, said Jürgen van der Horst, District Administrator of the Waldeck-Frankenberg district.
The first children arrived in Bad Arolsen during the night, he added.
There is a donation account, the district administrator continues.
"It will be difficult and sad days in Bad Arolsen," emphasized the mayor of the city, Marko Lambion.
Everyone knows everyone, the dismay, the compassion are great.
Berlin: cell phone and computer of the suspect examined
Update from June 9, 11:46 a.m
.: The cell phone and computer of the 29-year-old suspect are being examined, according to Berlin Interior Senator Iris Spranger in Berlin.
Spanger rated the deadly car drive as a "rampage by a mentally handicapped person." The 29-year-old is known to the police, but not yet known in connection with extremism.
The public prosecutor's office announced a statement in the district court for the early afternoon.
Prosecutors are expected to apply for an arrest warrant.
Police: 29 people injured in death drive in Berlin
Update from June 9, 11:17 a.m
.: One day after the fatal car drive of a 29-year-old in Berlin, the investigations are still in full swing.
According to the latest police information, one woman was killed and a total of 29 other people were injured.
The news agency afp reports.
This includes people who are in shock.
The total number of injured was previously unknown.
Among the injured are 14 students from Hesse.
According to the police, seven teenagers and a teacher are still in the hospital.
According to the police and fire brigade, fluctuations in the numbers are possible due to the dynamic development.
According to the fire department, a total of 22 people were treated in Berlin hospitals in connection with the death trip (as of Wednesday evening).
17 people were treated on site and taken to hospitals, including six life-threatening and three seriously injured.
Other people would have presented themselves independently in a clinic.
Update from June 9, 10:50 a.m .:
Dennis Buchner (SPD), President of the Berlin House of Representatives, thanked the emergency services and helpers who were on site near the Berlin Memorial Church on Wednesday after the fatal incident.
Buchner expressed his thanks on behalf of the entire state parliament at the beginning of the plenary session on Thursday.
"Our thoughts are with the relatives of the teacher who was killed." Fear and hope also apply to the injured students.
"It leaves a lot of us with a feeling of powerlessness," Buchner said.
"We know that there can be no one hundred percent security in a free society." The background to the crime is still unclear, said Buchner.
"Speculation will not get us any further." Therefore, no detailed discussion of the topic is planned for the plenary session.
Berlin: indications of an amoktat are increasing – the driver's sister says: "serious problems"
First report from June 9th:
Berlin / Munich – The fatal incident with a car on Berlin's Ku'damm on Wednesday (June 8th) also caused great concern the day after.
A 29-year-old crashed into a group of students from Hesse in Berlin.
A teacher died.
14 people were injured, according to Berlin's governing mayor Franziska Giffey (SPD), six people were life-threatening and three others seriously.
It quickly became clear that the incident near Berlin's Breitscheidplatz was not a traffic accident.
An extremist attack is also considered unlikely.
The perpetrator is said to be mentally disturbed.
This is initially known about the act in Berlin.
In Berlin, a 29-year-old raced first into a group of people, then into a shop.
One person died.
The signs of a rampage are intensifying.
© dpa |
Fabian Sommer
Berlin: car races in a group from Hesse – Scholz and Giffey speak of “amoktat”
The federal and state governments classify the deadly incident as an amoktat.
After Chancellor Olaf Scholz (“cruel amoktat”), Giffey also said the same thing on Thursday morning: “It tightened up last night,” she said on RBB Inforadio.
The police investigation had made it clear that it was a case of a "severely mentally impaired person" killing himself.
Iris Spranger (SPD), Berlin's Senator for the Interior, also put it this way on Twitter on Wednesday evening.
The Berlin police, on the other hand, deliberately did not use the term “amoktat” at first.
A police spokesman said on Thursday that there were tendencies in this direction, "but we haven't decided on that yet".
Investigations continue in all directions.
Berlin's chief of police, Barbara Slowik, made a similar statement on Wednesday evening.
In the Berlin State Criminal Police Office (LKA), a homicide commission is responsible for the case, not the state security, which takes care of politically motivated crime by extremists.
This gives an indication of how the police classify the case after the first findings.
Terrible incident: car crashes into a crowd in Berlin
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29-year-old races in Berlin in a crowd – sister of the amok driver expresses himself
The driver, a 29-year-old German-Armenian living in Berlin, was caught on Wednesday and taken to a hospital.
The police searched the driver's apartment in Charlottenburg on Wednesday.
The 29-year-old is said to have been known to the police for several crimes, but not in connection with extremism.
This is known to the death driver from Berlin.
"I could never have imagined that he would be capable of such an act ,
" neighbors told
Bild.de.
The driver's sister told a reporter from the newspaper: "He has serious problems."
Apparently she wasn't more specific.
According to the newspaper, the mother is currently on vacation.
With the help of an interpreter, attempts are being made to "find out more from the sometimes confused statements that he makes," said Giffey on Thursday morning about the perpetrator.
It is still being determined whether the posters related to Turkey that were in the German-Armenian's murder vehicle played a role.
The mayor spoke of a "dark day in the history of Berlin".
(mbr/dpa)
