German man jailed for life over deadly carnival car-ramming
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The defendant was found guilty of two counts of murder and six counts of attempted murder.
PHOTO: AFP
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BERLIN – A German man received a life sentence and was ordered into psychiatric care on Dec 18 for ploughing his car through a carnival market
The attack in the south-western city of Mannheim in March struck as visitors flocked to a pedestrian zone lined with food stalls, rides and games.
The defendant, partially named by German media as Alexander S., 40, was found guilty of two counts of murder and six counts of attempted murder, presiding judge Joachim Bock at the Mannheim Regional Court told AFP.
Prosecutors earlier said Alexander S. had been “suffering from a mental illness for many years” and called for him to be placed in a psychiatric facility.
They accused him of driving his black Ford at speeds of up to 80kmh through the crowds with the intention of “killing an unspecified number of pedestrians”.
Investigations had “not revealed any evidence of a political motive”, they said.
An 83-year-old woman and a 54-year-old man were killed in the car rampage.
When a taxi driver blocked the driver’s path, Alexander S. allegedly fired a shot into the air from a blank-firing pistol and fled on foot.
As police approached to arrest him, he then shot himself in the mouth with the apparent aim of suicide, prosecutors said.
The Mannheim attack was one of three car-rammings that shocked Germany in the past year.
In December 2024, six people were killed and more than 300 injured in an attack at a Christmas market in the eastern city of Magdeburg
And in February, a man drove a car into a trade union rally in Munich
