Man goes like a crazed digger through a German town before being shot dead by police
German police have shot dead a man after he stole an excavator and used it to rampage through a quiet town.
The man, who has not yet been identified, hijacked the excavator from a construction company in the small southern German town of Grünsfeld at around 1.35pm local time before driving it to Tauberbischofsheim, about eight kilometers away.
Video footage of the chaos shows the man ramming the yellow excavator into a JET gas station as police appear to shoot at him.
He was struck by gunfire at a car dealership in Tauberbischofsheim and resuscitated, but later died of his injuries.
He reportedly damaged several police vehicles and seriously injured an officer.
Local police later said that although she was trapped during the rampage, she has since been able to leave hospital.
On X, local police said there was now no danger to the public after the ‘suspected disaster’.
Germany has been on high alert for weeks after the terror attack in the city of Magdeburg, in which Saudi doctor Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, 50, crashed his rented SUV into a crowd at the Christmas market.
Video footage of the chaos shows the man driving the yellow excavator crashing into a JET gas station as police appear to shoot at him
He reportedly damaged several police vehicles and seriously injured an officer
Nine-year-old André Gleißner was killed and at least 235 people were injured in the horrific rampage, dozens of whom authorities say remain in serious condition.
Police are still wondering why Abdulmohsen attacked the market, the prosecutor indicated that the medic’s complaint about Germany’s treatment of Saudi dissident asylum seekers could be a possible motive.
Abdulmohsen – who was arrested next to the battered vehicle – has expressed anti-Islam views, anger at German immigration officials including former Chancellor Angela Merkel, and support for far-right narratives about the “Islamization” of Europe.
Abdulmohsen reportedly donated his entire fortune to the German Red Cross, but he did not include any political message in the document.
He was remanded in custody on five counts of murder and several attempted murders, and of causing grievous bodily harm, prosecutors said Saturday evening, but so far not on any terrorism-related charges.
The 50-year-old is currently being held in a high-security prison near Magdeburg, where he is constantly monitored by cameras and made to wear paper clothes “so he doesn’t hang himself in his cell,” according to tabloid Bild.