Horror in Leipzig Suspected maniac kills and injures several people
Horrific scenes in Leipzig city center: a 63-year-old woman and a 77-year-old man were killed and three people were seriously injured in a suspected rampage.
05.05.2026, 00:48
05.05.2026, 07:39
SDA
Many more people were injured, said Leipzig's Lord Mayor Burkhard Jung (SPD). Saxony's Interior Minister Armin Schuster (CDU) said that the arrested driver was in all probability a lone perpetrator, an "Amoktäter". He was 33 years old and a German citizen. The two fatalities were also Germans, as the police announced in the evening.
According to dpa information, the man was already known to the police before the crime, but not in a relevant way. The "Leipziger Volkszeitung" had previously reported on this. As the police announced in the evening, the investigators do not believe that the perpetrator had a political or religious motive.
Perpetrator was arrested without resistance
The suspect had driven a white car from Augustusplatz across the market square in the early evening and hit several people. The perpetrator was "apprehended" by the police while still in the car, according to the police. The man had allowed himself to be arrested without resistance; he was born in Germany and lived in the Leipzig region.
Leipzig's senior public prosecutor Claudia Laube confirmed that it was assumed that the man had committed a murder. There were no signs of "any other interpretation" and also no signs of other perpetrators.
Mayor Jung and Interior Minister Schuster also expressly thanked the people who had helped quickly and prudently at the scene. Level-headed passers-by had offered help quickly, handed out water and reacted in an exemplary manner.
Kretschmer: "An act like this leaves us speechless"
Following the fatal crime, Saxony's Minister President Michael Kretschmer (CDU) said: "This shakes me to the core. My thoughts are with the victims and their families." He wished the injured strength and a speedy recovery. "An act like this leaves us speechless - and it makes us determined. We will do everything in our power to clear it up quickly and completely. The constitutional state will act with the utmost consistency," said Kretschmer.
Shortly after the suspected rampage, blue lights could be seen everywhere on Leipzig's market square and numerous emergency services were on site. A screen was set up. A cloth could be seen in front of the perpetrator's white car. It presumably covered one of the bodies.
Barrier tape fluttered in front of the famous "Auerbachs Keller" restaurant. In front of the seminar building of Leipzig University, which is located directly on Grimmaische Strasse, the mood was subdued. Young people sat in small groups on the steps. Many stores in Leipzig's city center closed shortly after the attack, and only a few people were still sitting outside the cafés.
A total of around 80 people were affected
Numerous people also gathered on nearby Augustusplatz in front of the Gewandhaus and opera house. They took photos and videos and kept up to date with the situation on their cell phones. Ambulances repeatedly drove out of Grimmaische Strasse. According to the police, a total of around 80 people were affected; it was initially unclear how many of them were physically injured.
Grimmaische Strasse leads from the central Augustusplatz square into Leipzig's pedestrian zone to St. Thomas Church. Nearby are the university and the Nikolaikirche Leipzig, a central site of the Peaceful Revolution.
