A car plowed into a crowd in the western German city of Mannheim on Monday, killing one person and injuring several others, police said. Authorities have urged the public to avoid the downtown area and remain indoors.
A suspect has been taken into custody.
Police spokesperson Stefan Wilhelm said the vehicle struck pedestrians in Paradeplatz, a busy pedestrian zone in the city center. While confirming one fatality, he noted that the number and severity of injuries remain unclear.
“We can confirm that one perpetrator was arrested,” Wilhelm said. “We can’t yet provide information on whether there were additional suspects.”
Images from the scene showed sections of the downtown area cordoned off, with a heavy police presence and helicopters circling above. Officers gathered around a badly damaged black car as ambulances lined up outside the restricted zone.
Earlier, Wilhelm described the incident as “a life-threatening deployment situation.”
Paradeplatz, a central square in downtown Mannheim, is located at the end of a pedestrianized street. The city, home to approximately 326,000 people, sits 85 kilometers (52 miles) south of Frankfurt.
Mannheim University Hospital has activated its disaster and emergency plan, preparing for a potential mass casualty incident, according to German news agency dpa. The hospital is on standby to treat the injured.
Across Germany, many people were enjoying an extended weekend for carnival celebrations, including Rose Monday, when cities host parades. Mannheim’s parade had already taken place on Sunday.
In response to the events in Mannheim, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser canceled her planned participation in Cologne’s carnival street parade.
“The focus now is on saving lives, treating the injured, and supporting the initial investigations by authorities in Mannheim,” an interior ministry spokesperson told dpa.
While police have not immediately classified Monday’s incident as an attack, cars have been used as deadly weapons in several violent incidents in recent months.
In one such case last month, a 2-year-old girl and her mother died two days after being struck in a car-ramming attack during a labor union demonstration in Munich. A 24-year-old Afghan man, who had arrived in Germany as an asylum-seeker, was arrested shortly after the attack, with prosecutors suggesting an Islamic extremist motive.
In another incident last year, six people were killed and over 200 injured when a car plowed into a Christmas market in Magdeburg, eastern Germany. The suspect, a 50-year-old doctor from Saudi Arabia, was arrested and had reportedly expressed anti-Muslim sentiments and support for the far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party.
