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Mourners laid flowers near the scene of a deadly attack at a Christmas market on Monday as investigators puzzled over the suspect’s motive and his previous run-ins with authorities.
The Johanniskirche, a church a few minutes’ walk from the scene of the attack, has become a scene of mourning since the suspect drove his car into the busy market on Friday evening, killing five people. A carpet of flowers now covers the wide sidewalk in front of the church.
The number of injured rose to 235.
The suspect, identified by German media as Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, is a 50-year-old psychiatrist from Saudi Arabia. He is said to have a history of anti-Islamic rhetoric and to have sympathies with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
On the day of the attack, he left video messages on his X (Twitter) account.
In rambling comments, he variously blamed Germany’s supposed liberalism for the death of Socrates, the ancient Greek philosopher, and accused the police of stealing his USB stick and destroying the criminal complaint he filed.
German newspaper The world said he underwent psychological treatment.
At a rally organized by the AfD in front of the cathedral in Magdeburg on Monday, the political party’s co-leader Alice Weidel described the attack as “an act of Islamists full of hatred for what represents human cohesion… for us Germans, for us Christians”.
The AfD is in second place across the country, and is particularly strong in eastern Germany, where Magdeburg is located.
Holger Munch, president of the country’s federal criminal police office, told German broadcaster ZDF that Germany had been alerted to the suspect by Saudi Arabia as far back as 2023 and that German authorities had investigated but found it unclear.
“The man also published a huge number of posts on the Internet. He also had various contacts with the authorities, sent insults and even threats. But he was not known for acts of violence,” Munch said.
Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser called for tougher internal security laws, including a new law to strengthen the police force, as well as the introduction of biometric surveillance.
“It is clear that we must do everything to protect the people of Germany from such horrific acts of violence. To do this, our security authorities need all the necessary powers and more staff,” she told the news site A mirror.
Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck expressed concern that the attack would fuel misinformation online ahead of snap national elections expected at the end of February. He urged people “not to be infected with hatred”.
“There’s still a lot we don’t know, and a lot is unexplained, including the exact motive,” Mr. Habeck said. “However, I fear that the mistrust that was immediately propagated online towards Muslims, foreigners and people with a history of immigration will become more deeply rooted in society.”
Taha al-Hajji, an exiled Saudi lawyer and legal director of the Berlin-based European-Saudi Human Rights Organization, said most Saudi opposition activists in Germany did not have a good relationship with the suspect.
“He was always making trouble with everyone… He was really isolated,” Mr al-Hajji said.
“He felt that he was the only one who was right and that the people were wrong; he felt that he was the center of everything, that he was important. He always had problems with everyone.”
The local prosecutor in Magdeburg, Horst Nopens, said on Sunday that a possible factor in the attack may have been “the suspect’s dissatisfaction with the treatment of Saudi refugees in Germany”, but added that the motive remained unclear.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report