Police see mental illness behind deadly German van attack

Muenster (Germany), April 8

German authorities investigating a deadly van ramming attack focused on Sunday on mental health problems of the driver, as the city of Muenster mourned for the two people killed on a sunny afternoon at an open-air restaurant.

“There are strong indications at the moment that this was a lone perpetrator and that there were no links to the terror scene,” federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer told reporters at the site of Saturday’s attacks, where local people laid flowers in memory of the victims.

Far-right opponents of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s refugee policy had suggested in the immediate aftermath of the attack it might be an Islamist act of terror, while some media reported the killer had links to right-wing extremist organisations.

But there are “no indications of a political motive,” said Hajo Kuhlisch, chief of police in the western city where the attack took place.

Rather, he added, “the motive and origins (of the crime) lie within the perpetrator,” a 48-year-old German identified as Jens R who shot himself dead immediately after the crime.

A source close to the investigation told AFP there was a record of incidents related to the perpetrators impaired mental health since 2015, and that he had talked of suicide in late March.

Prosecutors said he faced allegations of threats, property damage and fraud in 2015 and 2016, all of which were dropped.

And broadcaster NTV reported he had threatened family members with an axe in 2014 and 2015.

The two victims killed in Muenster were a 51-year-old woman and a 65-year-old man, both from northern Germany.

As well as the dead, police said 20 were injured—some life-threateningly.

The foreign ministry in the Netherlands said two of those hurt were Dutch, one of whom was in a critical condition.

In the van, police found the gun used by the driver to kill himself, a blank-firing pistol and some powerful fireworks.

A search of the man’s Muenster apartment late Saturday turned up more fireworks and a deactivated AK47 assault rifle.

Police have appealed to the public for information, setting up a website where people can upload photos and videos. — AFP