(LONDON) — At least two people were killed and several others were injured when a car drove into a crowd in Mannheim, Germany, on Monday, during an annual carnival celebration, police said.
“A 40-year-old suspect drove a car into a group of people who were in the Planken area of Mannheim city center,” the police statement said. “Two people were killed and five seriously injured.”
A search of the area was immediately launched and a suspect was identified and arrested, according to the police statement.
Police said that all bridges and main roads were initially blocked off and authorities asked the public to stay away from the city center. Several hours later, police reopened the area after issuing an all-clear.
Video footage from Paradeplatz Square in the center of Mannheim showed shoppers standing outside an area cordoned off by police tape and strewn with debris, including a shoe. First responders could be seen tending to at least one injured person.
Mannheim has a population of 326,000 and is about 52 miles south of Frankfurt.
In addition to the two people killed, 10 people were injured, five seriously, Mannheim police said in a statement.
The incident unfolded around 12:15 p.m. local time in the Planken shopping district area near Paradeplatz Square, according to police.
Police have not said if the driver under arrest deliberately plowed into the crowd or whether it was accidental. The driver, whose name was not immediately released, is a German citizen from Rhineland-Palatinate, about 90 miles from Mannheim.
The incident occurred as people were gathering in central Mannheim for an annual German carnival celebration.
Witness Manu Brioso told ABC News that he was taking a class in a building in the Paradeplatz area when he saw the car involved in the incident pass by on the street before it struck a crowd of people.
“The school told us what had happened and that we couldn’t leave the school because police had cordoned off the area,” Brioso said.
When he was allowed to leave, Brioso said the street was full of police, firefighters and ambulances.
Security video obtained by ABC News showed the vehicle, a dark-colored compact hatchback car, appeared to be speeding down a street before the incident, drawing the attention of people seated at a sidewalk cafe and pedestrians, some rushing across the street to get out of the car’s path.
Officials at the Mannheim University Hospital said they received an emergency alert at 12:20 p.m. local time about a possible mass casualty incident in downtown Mannheim and activated the hospital’s emergency plan in preparation for treating the injured. The hospital reported receiving many injured patients, both adults and children, including some in critical condition.
The hospital said its intensive care unit was full due to the arrival of a high number of critical patients. According to the hospital, eight trauma teams were treating both adults and children.
As a security precaution, all of the hospital’s entrances were closed to the public.
The deadly incident comes in the wake of two intentional car-ramming attacks in Germany and at a time of heightened security across the country.
On Feb. 13, a 24-year-old suspect drove a car into a crowd in Munich gathered for a trade union demonstration, killing a 37-year-old mother and her 2-year-old daughter and injuring 37 people. The suspect, Fahad Noori, who is originally from Afghanistan, purportedly confessed to investigators that the act was deliberate. A prosecutor, Gabriele Tilman, said the suspect “gave an explanation I would summarize as religious motivation.”
On Dec. 20, a car-ramming attack occurred at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, that left five people dead and around 200 injured. A 50-year-old Saudi-born man, identified as Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, was arrested in the incident, which police suspect was deliberate. Al-Abdulmohsen was charged with five counts of murder and multiple counts of both attempted murder and causing grievous bodily harm.
The Mannheim incident comes at the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and amid a threat environment that has prompted Western officials to issue warnings to law enforcement and intelligence agencies in the United States and Western Europe.
According to a notice issued by the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center last week, an ISIS-aligned network released a poster called “Choose Your Next Target!” and lists four upcoming festivals and parades, mostly in Germany. The poster features images of a bloody knife and pistol, encouraging attacks.
Officials noted that last year during Ramadan, ISIS-Khorasan attacked Crocus City Hall in Moscow, Russia, killing 145 people.
“Following the attack, ISIS released a rare audio statement from its official spokesman — which supporters subsequently translated into over a dozen languages, including English — celebrating that attack and calling for more violence against Christian and Jewish communities during Ramadan,” officials said.
On New Year’s Day, 14 people were killed and numerous others were injured in a car ramming attack on Bourbon Street in New Orleans’ French Quarter. The suspect was 42-year-old Army veteran Shamsud-Din Jabbar, who was killed in a gunfight with police officers. Investigators alleged that Jabbar, who was a U.S.-born citizen from Texas, was inspired by ISIS to commit the attack.
In recent days, the New York Police Department and the Department of Homeland Security have issued notices alerting law enforcement to terrorism fears associated with Ramadan. The notices, obtained by ABC News, warned that “malicious actors from across the ideological spectrum may view Ramadan as an ideal time to commit attacks.”
The assessment reflects prior targeted acts of violence, disrupted plots and recent violent extremist propaganda.
“The current dynamic threat environment necessitates elevated vigilance at mass gatherings, houses of worship, and Muslim/Jewish community events, especially during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan,” the NYPD document said.
The DHS document noted that messaging from foreign terrorist organizations calling for violence during Ramadan “adds to a heightened concern of homegrown violent extremist attacks following the 2025 New Year’s ISIS-inspired attack in New Orleans, likely raising the potential for violence from HVEs [homegrown violent extremists] during this year’s observance.”
ABC News’ Aaron Katersky, Josh Margolin, Joe Simonetti and Zoe Magee contributed to this report.
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