Bavaria Mother and daughter die after attack in Munich
Two days after the attack on a demonstration in Munich, a mother and her young daughter have died from their serious injuries. They were a two-year-old girl and a 37-year-old woman from Munich, according to the Bavarian State Office of Criminal Investigation. In the afternoon, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) came to the scene of the attack and laid a white rose at an improvised memorial.
15.02.2025, 18:33
SDA
According to the police, at least 39 people were injured on Thursday when a 24-year-old Afghan drove his car into a demonstration organized by the Verdi trade union. Investigators are currently assuming that the attack had an Islamist background. The driver is now in custody.
Perpetrator speaks of intent in interrogation
Gabriele Tilmann, Senior Public Prosecutor at the Central Office for Combating Extremism and Terrorism (ZET) of the Munich Public Prosecutor General's Office, cited the testimony of police officers that the driver had shouted "Allahu Akbar" after the attack as an indication of Islamist motivation.
The 24-year-old also admitted in an interrogation that he had deliberately driven the car into the end of the Verdi demonstration train. The statements indicated a religious motivation, Tilmann said on Friday. She did not want to give details of the statements made during the interrogation.
The investigation is still in its early stages, Tilmann emphasized. However, as things stand, she said she was confident in assuming an Islamist background. Among other things, chats on the driver's smartphone had been analyzed.
Federal Public Prosecutor's Office has taken over the investigation
Due to the particular significance of the case, the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office took over the investigation on Friday evening. "It is suspected that the act was religiously motivated and is to be understood as an attack on the free democratic basic order," the highest prosecuting authority in Germany announced in Karlsruhe. The act was likely to impair the internal security of the Federal Republic of Germany. The Bavarian State Office of Criminal Investigation is continuing the criminal investigation.
According to the investigators, the Afghan had last resided in Germany legally. According to a court ruling against the rejection of his asylum application from October 2020, he is said to have lied about his escape story. In April 2021, however, the city of Munich issued a decision of toleration and in October 2021 a residence permit for the 24-year-old.
One week before the federal election, the crime has triggered a dispute among political parties as to what conclusions should be drawn from it. Chancellor Scholz called for tough consequences when he visited the site of the attack. "Things like this should not happen," he said. "Anyone who does something like this must expect the harshest penalties." And anyone who does not have the right of residence must leave the country at the end of their sentence, he added.
