BERLIN (AP) — A driver rammed a car into a crowd Monday in the southwestern German city of Mannheim, killing one person and injuring several others, police said as they asked the public to stay away from the downtown area and remain in their homes.
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A suspect was in custody, police said.
Police would not immediately characterize the incident as an attack. Cars have been used as deadly weapons in several acts of violence in recent months in Germany.
Police spokesperson Stefan Wilhelm said a driver drove into people on Paradeplatz, a pedestrianized street downtown, around noon, when workers come for lunch breaks. Local media reported a carnival market was taking place, meaning more visitors than usual in Mannheim, with a population of 326,000.
Mannheim University Hospital said they were treating three people from the crash, two adults and a child, German news agency dpa reported. It was not immediately clear whether other hospitals received patients.
Images from the scene showed parts of the downtown area cordoned off, with a heavy police presence and helicopters above. Police gathered round a badly damaged black car as ambulances lined up outside the cordon.
Last month, a 2-year-old girl and her mother died two days after they were injured in a car-ramming attack on a union demonstration in Munich. A 24-year-old Afghan man who came to Germany as an asylum-seeker was arrested, and prosecutors said he appeared to have an Islamic extremist motive.
Last year, six people were killed and more than 200 injured when a car slammed into a Christmas market in the eastern city of Magdeburg. The suspect, who was arrested, is a 50-year-old doctor originally from Saudi Arabia who had expressed anti-Muslim views and support for the far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative For Germany party.
Associated Press writers Geir Moulson and Kirsten Grieshaber contributed.
