Two people were killed and dozens injured Saturday when a vehicle plowed into busy cafe and restaurant terraces in the German city of Munster before the driver killed himself, police and local media said.
At least 20 people were injured, six of them seriously, according to police, while media reports said the driver had been behind the wheel of a delivery van.
Officials initially said three people had been killed besides the driver, who shot himself, but later corrected the number down to two.
Hours after the incident, the daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung, public broadcaster ZDF and news agency DPA said the assailant was a German in his late 40s and believed to be psychologically disturbed “with no known links to “terrorism.
Police said a suspicious object was found in the van. They said they were still examining what kind of an object it is and whether it was dangerous. Officials told German news agency dpa that the object led to a large area around the scene being sealed off after the crash.
German police said they were checking witness reports that other perpetrators may have fled from the van. Police spokesman Andreas Bode said witnesses told them others left the van after it crashed. News agency dpa reported that witnesses spoke of two others in the van besides the driver.
Bode said it was “too soon” to call the incident a deliberate attack.
Munster Mayor Markus Lewe said the reason for the crash was still unclear. Lewe told reporters that “all of Muenster is mourning this horrible incident. Our sympathy is with the relatives of those who were killed. We wish the injured a quick recovery.”
Immediately after the crash the online edition of the Spiegel magazine reported that German authorities were “assuming” the incident was an attack, though there was no immediate official confirmation.
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