Magdeburg: The 3 Minutes of Hell – The Chronicle of Carnage

Both Germany and the rest of the world are in shock following the developments after the bloody incident in Magdeburg.

It is recalled that a 50-year-old Saudi doctor drove a black BMW he had just rented into the Christmas market in Magdeburg, killing 5 people and injuring 200 others.

The timeline of the attack

• Around 19:00: A dark BMW approaches the Christmas market. The site is secured with concrete pillars, but not completely. The driver cuts through a gap in the “Breiter Weg”, accelerates and runs at high speed into the alley between the stalls.
• 19:02: The first emergency calls are received by the police. Police and rescue crews rush to the scene.
• 19:08: The first forces arrive. Injured are on the ground, panic and chaos prevail. The situation is confusing. Firefighter Johannes (22) also rushes to the Christmas market. He later told BILD reporters: “It was like being in a bad movie. I walked through the destroyed market, there were people lying left and right. And all that crossed my mind was: Which one of them am I helping now? I then grabbed the wounded who had no one with them and took them to their respective treatment centers».

• Shortly after: Dramatic scenes unfold on Ernst-Reuter-Allee, just a few meters away from the Christmas market. According to “Magdeburger Volksstimme”, the black SUV was stopped by police officers when it tried to turn. Taleb A. gets out. Video captures what happens next: A police officer with a gun at the ready runs toward him and yells, “On the ground! Fall down!” The Death Driver lies on the ground, hands behind his back. Seconds later, backup arrived and officers arrested him.

• 19:14: The “We are Magdeburg” portal reports on Facebook that a car crashed into a crowd of people at the Christmas market.
• 19:32: “The authorities are organizing a raid”, reports the German Press Agency, citing Saxony-Anhalt government spokesman Matthias Suppe (69).
• 19:35: There are now reports of at least 20 injured. Teams of BILD reporters from Halle, Leipzig, Berlin and North Rhine-Westphalia set off for Magdeburg.
• 19:40: Rescuers from all over Saxony-Anhalt have been put on alert, helicopters from Halle and Opin are on their way. Surrounding hospitals are preparing for a large number of injured, including Halle, 85 kilometers away.
• 20:13: The area around the Christmas market has been cordoned off and is being searched with explosive detection dogs.
• 20:18: The Prime Minister of Saxony-Anhalt, Rainer Hasselof (70, CDU), is on his way to the crime scene.
• 20:24: Police report at least one dead.
• 20.44: The rescue service in Magdeburg reports between 60 and 80 injured.
• 21:00: Rescuers have set up supply tents, paramedics and doctors are treating the injured among the market stalls. The trams and the Alleecenter have also been converted into hospitals.
• 21:01 Media reports speak of eleven deaths, citing information from the authorities. Shortly thereafter, it was announced that only one death had been confirmed so far.
• 21:15: BILD reporter Johannes Proft arrives at the crime scene. The market is destroyed, injured people lie among the stalls. In the chaos he meets Nadine (32) from Wolfsburg. She traveled to Magdeburg with her boyfriend Marko (39) specifically to visit the Christmas market.
• 21:33: Rumors are circulating of an alleged second vehicle with explosives. Witnesses claim to have heard gunshots at the Allee Center. None of this is confirmed.
• 21:42: The first details about the perpetrator. He is about 50 years old and from Saudi Arabia. He works as a doctor in Bernburg (Saale) and has been living in Germany since 2006 and has a permanent residence permit. At this point, police have located the suspect’s apartment and are waiting for special forces to investigate.
• 22:03: Prime Minister Haseloff and Interior Minister Tamara Zieschang (54, CDU) arrive at Ernst-Reuter-Allee. Haselov speaks of two dead and 64 wounded.

• 22:56: A large area of ​​the city center has been cordoned off. The killer’s car is still being checked for explosives and a piece of luggage is in the passenger seat.

• 23:07: On the 1st floor of the Magdeburg Opera, Haseloff, Zieschang and the mayor of Magdeburg Simone Borris (61) appeared before the press again. Boris in tears: “I could never have imagined how close terror is to us.”

• 23:58: Police report: no explosives in the car.

• 3.25 am.: The special forces arrived in Bernburg. The elite cops break into the dead driver’s apartment and send a robot to investigate the situation. A ‘Survivor’ armored vehicle is ready and shining from outside in the ground floor apartment.

• 5 am.: The security check is completed and the house search begins.

  The next day it was clear: at least five people were killed and 41 seriously injured. According to information from BILD, 86 people with serious injuries are being treated in hospitals. 78 people were slightly injured in the attack.

Who are the victims?

A nine year old child and four adults are confirmed to have died in the attack. More than 200 people have been injured and at least 41 of them are in critical condition.

The toll was earlier reported as two dead and 68 injured, but was revised to a much higher number on Saturday morning.

None of the victims have yet been identified.

Who is the suspect?

The suspect has been identified in local media as Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, according to the BBC. He is a 50-year-old psychiatrist who lives in Bernburg, about 40 kilometers south of Magdeburg.

The suspect is currently being questioned and prosecutors expect to charge him with murder and attempted murder in due course, the head of the local prosecutor’s office said on Saturday.

The motive behind the attack remains unclear, but authorities have said they believe he carried out the attack alone. Originally from Saudi Arabia, he arrived in Germany in 2006 and was recognized as a refugee in 2016. Germany’s interior minister, Nancy Feiser, told reporters that “it is clear” that the suspect has “Islamophobic” views.

The suspect is an outspoken critic of Islam on social media and has promoted conspiracy theories about an alleged plot by German authorities to Islamize Europe.

A report from Der Spiegel said a complaint was filed against Taleb A. with authorities a year ago for statements that officials concluded did not constitute a specific threat.

What did officials say about the attack?

“Reports from Magdeburg raise the worst fearsGerman Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on social media platform X.

Magdeburg’s councilor for public order, Roni Krug, said the Christmas market would remain closed and that “Christmas in Magdeburg is over,” according to German public broadcaster MDR.

That sentiment was echoed on the market’s website, which after the attack showed only a black screen with words of mourning, announcing that the market had ended.

The Saudi government expressed “solidarity with the German people and the families of the victims,” ​​in a statement to X, and “reaffirmed its rejection of the violence.”

Shocked “by the tragic attack on the Magdeburg Christmas market”, said the Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in his post on X.

“Our thoughts are with the victims, their families and all those affected. Greece stands in full solidarity with the German people in these difficult times. Violence has no place in our societies” emphasizes the prime minister in his post.