A man drove his car into a road, killing five people, including a nine-year-old boy. Crowded Christmas market December 20 in Magdeburg, Germany.

More than 200 people were injured in Friday night’s attack, about 40 of whom were seriously or critically injured.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier used his traditional Christmas message to appeal to the nation for national unity on Tuesday.

“There’s a shadow hanging over Christmas this year,” he said.

“Hate and violence must not be the final word. Let us not allow ourselves to be driven away. Let us stand together.”

Authorities reported the suspect used an emergency exit route to enter the Christmas market and charged through the crowd during a three-minute rampage. The man surrendered to the police on the spot.

Magdeburg police said in a statement on Sunday that the suspect was being held under investigation on suspicion of five counts of murder, multiple counts of attempted murder and grievous bodily harm.

Here’s what we know about the suspect:

Who is the suspect?

this Suspect Identified as Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, a 50-year-old psychiatrist from Saudi Arabia who had lived in Germany for nearly two decades.

He is employed by a clinic that specializes in treating offenders with addiction problems, but has been on medical leave since the end of October.

He describes himself as a “Saudi atheist” and activist critical of Islam who helps former Muslims flee the Gulf country.

Al-Abdulmohsen has been active online; criticize germany Accepting too many Muslim refugees and supporting far-right conspiracy theories about the “Islamization” of Europe.

The Der Spiegel news magazine reported that Abdelmosen was a supporter of the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

Mina Ahadi, the former head of Germany’s Central Council of Muslims, told German daily Tageszeitung that the council knew the suspect and that he had tried to donate some eight years ago.

She recalled his behavior as “aggressive” and said she felt like she was “dealing with a mentally ill person.”

Ahadi wrote on X on Saturday that Abdelmosen had been “intimidating” the committee for years.

“His delusions were so great that he believed even organizations critical of Islamism were part of an Islamic conspiracy,” she said.

What do the authorities say?

“The only thing we can say with certainty at this stage is that the perpetrator was clearly Islamophobic. We can already confirm that. Everything else is subject to further investigation,” German Interior Minister Nancy Feser told reporters on Saturday.

On Sunday, she said the attacker “does not fit any previous pattern” because “he behaved like an Islamic terrorist, even though ideologically he is clearly an enemy of Islam.”

A senior lawmaker told AFP that a parliamentary committee will hold a hearing on the attack on December 30, with Feser and the heads of Germany’s domestic and foreign intelligence services expected to answer questions.

What is the suspect’s motive?

Magdeburg prosecutor Horst Noppens said on Saturday that a factor in the suspect’s motivation may have been his frustration with Germany’s handling of Saudi refugees.

The suspect had made death threats online against German citizens and had a record of run-ins with state authorities.

A year ago, the Saudi secret service alerted Germany’s foreign intelligence agency, the BND, over a tweet in which Abdelmosen warned, the Der Spiegel news magazine reported, citing security sources. , Germany will bear the consequences of its actions. Treatment of Saudi Refugees.

In August, he wrote on social media: “Is there a way to get justice in Germany without blowing up the German embassy or randomly massacring German citizens? … If anyone knows, please let me know.”

German state and federal police conducted a “risk assessment” of Abdelmosen last year but concluded he “posed no concrete danger,” Die Welt reported, citing security sources.

What else is known about the suspect’s motives?

Felix Neumann, policy adviser on security issues at Germany’s Konrad Adenauer Foundation, told Al Jazeera that the incident was initially thought to be “an Islamic attack because of its similarity to the 2016 attack on Breitscheid Platz” Very similar” when a truck deliberately drove into a Berlin Christmas market, killing 13 people.

“However, based on comments he made online, it now appears unlikely that this was an Islamic attack,” Neumann said.

“The perpetrator was very critical of Islam and shared right-wing extremist rhetoric on his X account. Further investigation will reveal his ultimate motivations, but the concept of ‘salad bar extremism’ may apply here.”

“This means that individuals will individually pick out those aspects that make sense to them, but there will be no unifying, coherent ideology.”

Could the government do more to prevent attacks?

Neumann said: “Germany is a federal system and has various advantages, but sharing information is not one of them.

“Foreign intelligence agencies and individuals who provided potentially dangerous information about the perpetrators must now be investigated, and where errors in the chain of information sharing must be identified.

“It then has to be optimized so that potential threat analysis can be better communicated between authorities.”