A motorist who drove into a crowd and killed two people in Leipzig carried out the deadly attack after getting into an argument, according to witnesses. The 33-year-old German man, locally named as Jeffrey K, ploughed through a pedestrian zone in the city centre at 5pm on Monday before being arrested.
Details of the incident
The father-of-one sped through the crowded area in a Volkswagen Taigo at 60mph, eyewitnesses told German newspaper Bild. The SUV then came to a stop in the market square. Images of the aftermath showed the destroyed vehicle, with a smashed windshield and dented hood, surrounded by police and emergency services personnel.
When police arrived, Jeffrey K, a building technician and boxing trainer, was still inside the car and surrendered without resistance, according to local reports.
Casualties and response
Around an hour after the incident, Leipzig's mayor, Burkhard Jung, confirmed that two German citizens had lost their lives: a 63-year-old woman and a 77-year-old man. 'We mourn two dead, currently three seriously injured, and many more injured,' Jung said in a statement. Candles were placed around the crash site later in the evening.
According to Bild, an argument is believed to have triggered the man to carry out the fatal attack, though this has not been officially confirmed. Rescue workers stood next to the damaged car that crashed into several people. Photos from the scene showed dozens of emergency service vehicles and personnel in the street as crowds of onlookers gathered.
Police cordoned off the market square, and an ADAC rescue helicopter landed in the bustling Augustusplatz. Later in the evening, Saxony's Minister-President Michael Kretschmer wrote on Instagram: 'This deeply shocks me. My thoughts are with the victims and their families. I wish the injured strength and a speedy recovery.' During a press conference in Meißen, he described the perpetrator as 'mentally disturbed,' according to local newspaper Leipziger Volkszeitung.
Saxony's interior minister, Armin Schuster, echoed the statement, describing it as a 'horrific rampage.' The police confirmed that the perpetrator has been arrested and that there is no further danger. The public prosecutor's office is investigating two counts of murder and at least two counts of attempted murder.
Witness accounts
In earlier reports, local broadcaster Radio Leipzig claimed a person had been on top of the vehicle as it sped through Grimmaische Street. The broadcaster also cited witnesses saying there were several bodies covered with sheets, as well as a stabbing. Hosam Algaer, a Leipzig resident originally from Libya, said he narrowly avoided being hit by the vehicle before running after it to help the injured until the car stopped. He said: 'The car braked, it stopped. There was a woman on top, and she ended up under the car, dead. She fell from the roof. Luckily, things were not worse than they were thanks to the screaming. People understood very quickly that an idiot was driving and they fled.'
Official statements and context
A city press release called the incident a 'mass casualty event.' While officials have not drawn firm conclusions on the suspect's motive, several described the incident as an 'Amokfahrt' — a German term suggesting a rampage driven by madness. This kind of act was 'often associated with psychological instability,' said Schuster. Police said late on Monday that there was 'no basis on current knowledge' to assume a political or religious motive.
Leipzig is located southwest of Berlin and has more than 630,000 inhabitants, making it one of the biggest cities in eastern Germany. Like other European countries, Germany has witnessed a spate of car-ramming and stabbing incidents in recent years, some with religious or political motivations and some carried out by people with mental health issues. Last year, two people were killed in the western city of Mannheim when a 40-year-old man drove a car into a group of pedestrians, only weeks after a similar attack on a trade union demonstration in Munich, killing two and injuring more than 40, many of them children. In December 2024, several people were killed in a car-ramming attack on a Christmas market in the eastern city of Magdeburg. That incident came months after a stabbing attack at a festival in the western city of Solingen.
