(Newswire.net — December 20, 2016) — Berlin, Germany – In a suspected terrorist attack, a truck rammed into a crowded Christmas market in Berlin, killing at least 12 people and leaving several wounded.
Though it is not yet officially confirmed, authorities suspect the driver “intentionally” steered the heavy vehicle into the crowd.
The position of the market and the angle the truck went off road shows that the truck was deliberately driven into the Christmas market pedestrian zone.
Although some officials called the incident a “terrorist attack” police investigators have not yet excluded the possibility that the driver was mentally unstable.
The police are investigating claims that the truck was stolen from the original driver, a 37-year-old male, who had been transporting ThyssenKrupp steel products from Italy to Berlin.
According to the company’s transport manager, Lukasz Wasik, the truck was on hold awaiting permission to unload the cargo. The driver was told to wait somewhere in Berlin, Wasik told AFP.
“We lost contact with him around 3:00pm local time. We don’t know what happened – whether he was taken hostage, killed. We know nothing. We’re very worried about him. What a tragedy,” the manager added.
The police first thought that the driver that caused the mayhem was killed in the crash. However, when they found out that he was another victim, they realized that the driver had fled the scene.
Thanks to a witness who chased the attacker for more than a mile, the police arrested the perpetrator, a Berlin police officer, Winfrid Wenzel, told Die Welt.
“He [the assailant] probably wanted to find shelter in the darkness of the Tiergarten park,” Wenzel told the reporters.
When asked for a comment, the Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere avoided calling it a terrorist attack, saying that it is up to the investigators to determine the motive.
“I don’t want to use the word ‘attack’ yet at the moment, although a lot speaks for it,” Minister Thomas de Maiziere told ARD.
“There is a psychological effect on the whole country in the choice of words here, and we want to be very, very cautious and operate close to the actual investigation results, not with speculation,” De Maiziere added.
The German media reported that Germany will increase police presence during the holiday season.