At first there had been talk of 17 injured. Deaths or seriously injured persons were not reported contrary to speculation on social networks.
#Limburg: Es handelt sich wohl um einen #Anschlag! Mann kapert #Lkw und rammt mehrere Autos, min. ein #Schwerverletzter. #Polizei verhängt #Nachrichtensperre. #Terror #Hessen pic.twitter.com/79RcU87sue
— Gedanken (@sinnsturm) October 7, 2019
German broadcaster ZDF reported on Tuesday morning that the authorities have classified the case as a terrorist attack. According to police, the alleged perpetrator had stolen the truck near what would eventually become the crime scene shortly before 5.30pm. Then he drove into several cars on the Schiede, a road southwest of the centre. The targeted drivers were thus jammed in their vehicles.
Police were able to arrest the truck driver immediately after the incident. The original driver of the motor vehicle told the Frankfurt Neue Presse that the alleged perpetrator had suddenly dragged him out of his truck. He said nothing while he was hijacking the vehicle.
FNP reported that “passers-by said the driver said ‘Allah’ several times” and spoke Arabic”. But police would not confirm this account. Also reports of the truck attack have been scrubbed from the internet in German. The search “hesse+terror+deutschland+ 2019” on Google contained no news.
When several witnesses wanted to provide first aid after the impact, the terror suspect who had hijacked the white Mercedes truck that plowed into the cars as they were stopped at a traffic light near the city’s district courthouse on Monday, suddenly spoke Arabic and spoke of Allah.
According to German daily, Bild newspaper, the perpetrator is a Syrian. He had tried several times before the deed on Monday to hijack a truck. The man was also known to the police. However, he was never classified as a threat or Islamist.
In the course of the evening and the night on social networks, the police of West Hesse repeatedly asked users to avoid speculation. “At the moment a large police operation is ongoing in Limburg. Please note: the suspect has been arrested, our investigation is ongoing – please refrain from speculating. Nobody needs trolls or wild speculations.”
The site of the crash was cordoned off while a major police operation and “extensive investigations” were being carried out.