At least nine people were killed and 50 were wounded after a
truck plowed into a Christmas market in Berlin on Monday evening,
German
police said. Berlin police tweeted
that “a suspicious person was arrested near
#Breitscheidplatz,” the site of the incident. Police said they
are investigating whether the suspect was the truck driver.
A person who had been in the truck’s passenger seat at the time
of the incident was killed in the crash, police said. The video below appears to show the scene in the aftermath of the
incident: The truck, which apparently
belonged to a Polish transportation company, ran into
the market outside the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church about
8 p.m. local time on Monday.
The owner of the company
told German newspaper Bild that he had not communicated with
the driver of the truck since about 4 p.m. local time,
approximately four hours before the incident. He said he assumed
the truck was stolen. The passenger who was killed in the crash was Polish, Reuters
reported, citing German police. The nationality of the
suspected driver is still unclear.
Facebook has activated its safety-check feature for “The
Attack in Berlin, Germany.” A bystander tweeted
that “there is no road nearby,” indicating she believed that the
incident was not an accident.
“People were crushed,” she said. “I am safe.”
“We were so close and had to run away as people started
shouting and running,” Chloe Smith, a witness who was at the
Christmas market at the time of the incident, told Business
Insider via Facebook. “There were people running everywhere
and loads of ambulances.”
“If we had been there five minutes earlier, we would have
been involved. So scary,” she said. “Very shaken up, but we’re
safe at the hotel now.”
Police told German media that the first indications from
the investigation into the crash suggest it was a “likely
attack.” In a tweet, German police urged
people to stay indoors and refrain from spreading rumors
about the incident.
“What we see here is dramatic,”
said Berlin’s mayor, Michael Müller. “My thoughts are with
the families of the dead and injured.”
Security at Christmas markets in Germany and
France was tightened following the incident.
Germany’s interior minister, Thomas de Maiziere, said in a
statement that his “thoughts are now with the relatives of
the victims and of the injured of the terrible incident” and that
he is in “direct and constant contact with the security
officers for the state of Berlin and have offered any support
from the federal police.”
US President-elect Donald Trump condemned the attack in a
statement Monday evening.
“Our hearts and prayers are with the loved ones of the
victims of today’s horrifying terror attack in Berlin,” Trump
said. “Innocent civilians were murdered in the streets as they
prepared to celebrate the Christmas holiday. ISIS and other
Islamist terrorists continually slaughter Christians in their
communities and places of worship as part of their global
jihad.
“These terrorists and their regional and worldwide networks
must be eradicated from the face of the earth, a mission we will
carry out with all freedom-loving partners.”
US National Security Council Spokesperson Ned Price said the US
“condemns in the strongest terms what appears to have been a
terrorist attack” on the Christmas market.
“We have been in touch with German officials, and we stand ready
to provide assistance as they recover from and investigate this
horrific incident,” Price said in a statement. “Germany is
one of our closest partners and strongest allies, and we stand
together with Berlin in the fight against all those who target
our way of life and threaten our societies.”
Eighty-six people were killed and more than 400 were
injured when a truck plowed into a crowd watching Bastille Day
fireworks in Nice, France, on July 14.
The mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, tweeted
about the attack on Monday: “Horror in Berlin. Support to the
Berlin mayor. Never again.”
Barbara Tasch and Charles Clark contributed reporting.
