Despite the incident’s similarities to past Islamist attacks, the man who drove his car into a crowd of people in the German city of Mannheim on Monday, March 3rd, killing two and injuring another ten based on latest reports, did not have a political or religious motive but has shown signs of mental illness, according to authorities.
The perpetrator, a 40-year-old man who was identified as Alexander S., rammed his Ford Fiesta into a crowd of people who were taking part in a parade to mark the carnival season.
The attack is the third such car ramming incident in a matter of months, and comes on the heels of Islamist terrorists urging their supporters to use such methods to kill innocent German citizens.
Although Alexander S. is a German citizen with reportedly no migrant background, his choice to use his car as a weapon raises the question of whether even non-Muslims have been inspired by Islamist tactics.
Less than a month ago, an Afghan failed asylum seeker drove his car into a crowd of demonstrators in Munich, killing two people. In December, a Saudi Arabian man rammed his car into a crowd of shoppers at the Magdeburg Christmas market, killing six people and injuring at least 299 others.
Germans now have to live in constant fear of their lives. The pro-migration policies of the past decade have led to an influx of illegal migrants and a drastic rise in crime.
“Germany must once again become a safe country. We will work with full determination to achieve this,” Friedrich Merz, the likely next chancellor of Germany, said after the Mannheim attack. However, his vow during the election campaign to turn back illegal migrants at the border turned out to be an empty promise, and he will have to reach a compromise with his future coalition partner, the Social Democrats, who are not willing to introduce tougher asylum laws.
Alexander S. will be interrogated by police on Tuesday, March 4th, after being released from medical care. The perpetrator shot himself with a blank-firing gun after the attack.
Police want to know what his motive for the crime was. “We have concrete indications that the perpetrator had a mental illness,” Mannheim Chief Public Prosecutor Romeo Schuessler said, ruling out a politically motivated act.
The attacker is a landscape gardener who lives alone in Ludwigshafen, which neighbours Mannheim. In 2015, he was convicted of assault, and last year he had poured petrol over himself and threatened to set himself on fire.
