Germans on Saturday mourned the deaths of at least five people – including a young child – who were killed and at least 200 others injured after a Saudi doctor deliberately drove his car into a busy Christmas market in Magdeburg on Friday.

The driver of the car – a 50-year-old man who arrived in Germany in 2006 – was arrested and taken into custody for questioning, authorities said. Magdeburg police he said their current assumption is that the man, who had a permit to stay and work in the country for an indefinite period, was a “lone offender”.

Authorities said the driver had no criminal record, and a possible motive is unknown. Investigators closed off the area around the vehicle.

The state premier of Saxony-Anhalt, Reiner Haseloff, described it as a “lone attack”. He told reporters on Saturday that the number of dead had risen from two to five and that a total of more than 200 people had been injured.

“It’s astonishing, unimaginable, that something like this could happen in Germany,” Haseloff said.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that almost 40 of them were “so seriously injured that we have to be very worried about them”.

German media identified the suspect as Taleb A., withholding his last name to comply with privacy laws. They reported that he was a specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy who practiced medicine in Bernburg, about 25 miles south of Magdeburg.

Describing himself as a former Muslim, the suspect shared dozens of tweets and retweets daily focusing on anti-Islamic themes, criticizing the religion and congratulating Muslims who had left the faith.

He also accused the German authorities of not doing enough to combat what he called the “Islamism of Europe.” Some have described him as an activist who helped Saudi women flee their homeland. He also expressed support for the far-right and anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

Most recently, he seemed focused on his theory that German authorities were targeting Saudi asylum seekers.

Mourners lit candles and laid flowers outside the church near the market on a cold and gloomy day. Several people stopped and cried. A Berlin church choir whose members witnessed the previous Christmas market attack in 2016 sang Amazing Grace, a hymn about God’s mercy, expressing their prayers and solidarity with the victims.

Retelling of the horrific attack

The violence shocked Germany and the city, bringing the mayor to the brink of tears and spoiling a festive event that is part of a centuries-old German tradition.

Bystander footage shown on German news outlets shows the arrest of the suspect at a tram stop in the middle of the road.

“It was a real chaotic situation,” Lars Frohmüller, a reporter for German public broadcaster MDR, told CBS News partner BBC.

“We saw blood on the floor, we saw people sitting next to each other … and we saw many doctors trying to warm people up and help them with their injuries,” he said.

There were ambulances everywhere, the police, there were a lot of firefighters.

The sirens of the first emergency services clashed with the market’s holiday decorations, including baubles, stars and leaf garlands adorning vendor stands. On the video from the fenced part of the market, debris can be seen on the ground.

“This is a terrible event, especially now in the days leading up to Christmas,” Haseloff said.

Thi Linh Chi Nguyen, a 34-year-old manicurist from Vietnam whose salon is in a shopping center across the street from the Christmas market, was talking on the phone during a break when she heard loud bangs and at first thought they were fireworks. Then she saw a car speeding through the market. People screamed and a car threw a child into the air.

The number of injured was huge.

“My husband and I helped them for two hours. He ran home and grabbed as many blankets as he could find because they didn’t have enough to cover the injured people. And it was so cold,” she said.

Chancellor Scholz published on X: “My thoughts are with the victims and their relatives. We stand with them and with the people of Magdeburg.”

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, also sent her condolences wrote“This act of violence must be investigated and severely punished.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia condemned the attack on X.

After the incident, New York police he said he deployed resources to various Christmas markets and other venues around town “out of an abundance of caution.” However, they said they had not identified any specific or credible threats.

Magdeburg, located west of Berlin, is the capital of the state of Saxony-Anhalt and has about 240,000 inhabitants.

The alleged attack took place eight years after the attack on the Christmas market in Berlin. On December 19, 2016, an Islamic extremist plowed through a packed Christmas with a truckkilling 13 people and injuring dozens more. The attacker was killed a few days later in a shootout in Italy.

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said late last month that there were no concrete indications of danger for Christmas markets this year, but that it was wise to be vigilant.

She he said Friday on social media“The news from Magdeburg is deeply shocking. The emergency services are doing everything they can to treat the injured and save lives.

Chancellor Scholz and Faeser traveled to Magdeburg on Saturday. In the evening, there is a funeral mass in the city cathedral. Faeser ordered flags to be flown at half-staff on federal buildings across the country.

The attack prompted several other German cities to cancel their weekend Christmas markets as a precaution and in solidarity with the loss of Magdeburg. Berlin has kept its markets open but has increased its police presence.