A car crashed into the pedestrian zone of this eastern German city, killing at least two people and injuring around twenty. The driver was apprehended.
Two people died and around twenty were injured after a car crashed into a pedestrian zone in the center of Leipzig, eastern Germany, on Monday, May 4, in the afternoon, as reported by the police cited by the regional television channel MDR.
According to the regional public media MDR, which also quotes the police, “a car drove into a crowd of people” on a major pedestrian axis in the old town, surrounded by shops and historical buildings.
Two dead and around twenty injured
The local newspaper Leipziger Volkszeitung, citing the mayor of Leipzig, also reported two deaths. “The police apprehended the suspect,” said Mayor Burkhard Jung.
“A car struck several pedestrians on Grimmaische Street before fleeing. The driver of the vehicle has been arrested, he no longer poses any danger,” confirmed the city police on X.
The chief of the Leipzig firefighters, quoted by the same media, reported two severe injuries and “20 other injuries”. According to the Prime Minister of Saxony, Michael Kretschmer, the suspect is a young man “suffering from mental disorders, of German nationality.”
“We are devastated. All I can do right now is express my solidarity with the families of the victims,” added the mayor of the city.
Germany has been shaken in recent years by several car-ramming attacks, including those against Christmas markets in Berlin (2016) and Magdeburg (2024), or the one against a union parade in Munich at the beginning of 2025.
The city has gradually banned cars from its historic center for over a decade.
