While Germany mourns the death of at least five people after a deliberately crashed his vehicle into a crowded Christmas marketauthorities are working to identify the suspect behind the attack.

The suspect — identified by local media as 50-year-old Taleb A. — lived and worked as a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy in Germany for two decades, authorities said.

Originally from Saudi Arabia, Taleb arrived in Germany in 2006 and was recognized as a refugee in 2016, CBS News partner The BBC announced. He worked at the Salus-Fachklinikum Bernburg, a specialist clinic in Bernburg, about 25 miles south of Magdeburg.

In an Post on Instagram on Saturday, the clinic said it was “shocked to learn that the alleged perpetrator worked as a medical specialist at our branch in Bernburg.” It added that Taleb had worked at the company since March 2020, but had not been on duty since October 2024 due to illness and annual leave.

“Since late hours, we have been supporting the work of the investigative bodies in every way”, and they are “stunned and shocked by the terrible attack”.

The head of the Federal Criminal Police Office, Holger Münch, said in an interview with German television ZDF on Saturday that his office received a tip from Saudi Arabia in November 2023, prompting authorities to initiate “appropriate investigative measures.”

“The man also published a huge number of posts on the Internet. He also contacted various authorities, made insults and even made threats. However, he is not known to have committed acts of violence,” said Münch, whose office is the German equivalent of the FBI .

He said the warnings, however, turned out to be very non-specific.

The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees also said on Saturday on X that it had received a tip about the suspect in late summer last year.

“This is taken seriously, as are any other of the numerous tips,” the office said. However, it also noted that it is not an investigative body and that it has forwarded the information to the competent authorities. He gave no other details.

Taleb’s X account is filled with posts and re-shares that focus on anti-Islamic themes and criticism of the faith while congratulating Muslims who have left the faith. He also said that he is a former Muslim.

He was critical of the German authorities, saying they had not done enough to combat the “Islamism of Europe”.

He also expressed support for the far-right and anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

German newspaper FAZ said she interviewed the suspect in 2019 and described him as an anti-Islam activist.

“People like me, who have an Islamic background, but are no longer believers, Muslims do not find understanding or tolerance here,” he was quoted as saying. “I am the most aggressive critic of Islam in history. If you don’t believe me, ask the Arabs.”

Prominent German terrorism expert Peter Neumann announced on X that he has yet to come across a suspect for an act of mass violence with that profile.

Neumann, a terrorism expert, wrote: “After 25 years in this ‘business’ you think nothing can surprise you anymore. But a 50-year-old Saudi ex-Muslim living in East Germany loves the AfD and wants to punish Germany for its tolerance of Islamists — that really wasn’t on my radar.”

Some have described Taleb as an activist who helped Saudi women flee their homeland. Most recently, he seemed focused on his theory that German authorities were targeting Saudi asylum seekers.

On Saturday, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told reporters: “At this point we can only say with certainty that the perpetrator was clearly Islamophobic – we can confirm that. Everything else is a matter of further investigation and we have to wait.”

A German organization called Atheist Refugee Relief said the alleged attacker was not part of the group and claimed he had made “numerous accusations and claims” against it and former board members, which it said were false.

“We distance ourselves from him in the strongest terms,” ​​the group said in a statement on its website, adding that members of Atheist Refugee Relief filed criminal charges against him in 2019 after “the most vile slander and verbal attacks.”

Taleb was arrested at the scene after he drove a black BMW into a Christmas market packed with holiday shoppers on Friday night in Magdeburg, killing at least five people and injuring around 200 others.