german christmas market
Security forces stand guard at the entrance of a Christmas market where a car crashed into a crowd, killing five and injuring more than 200 people on Friday. JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP via Getty Images

A Saudi Arabian doctor faces five murder charges after allegedly plowing a rented BMW car into a crowded Christmas market in Germany, killing five people and injuring 200 others. He also faces multiple counts of attempted murder and aggravated assault.

The suspect, Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, 50, allegedly killed a 9-year-old boy and four adults, and critically injured about 40 other individuals at a market massacre where he ran over people in Magdeburg, reported NBC News.

Al-Abdulmohsen was arrested on Saturday in a dramatic showdown with police on a roadway. Video captured the moment police closed in on him with their guns drawn.

Tom-Oliver Langhans, director of the Magdeburg police, said in an NBC News interview that al-Abdulmohsen went through a security blockade specifically made to prevent such attacks and sped through a market alley, where he crashed into a group of people.

Surveillance video footage shows the BMW colliding with attendees then turning into another street. Ian Mile Cheong published the footage, which features a graphic content warning, on X.

bmw christmas market
Forensics police inspect the car that rammed into a crowd at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, eastern Germany. JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP via Getty Images

Law enforcement continue to investigate the motive behind the assault, but said in an NBC News interview that it may relate to "dissatisfaction with Germany's treatment of Saudi Arabian refugees."

Al-Abdulmohsen has been seeking asylum in Germany since 2016 after immigrating to Germany in 2006. His social media presence includes inflammatory posts where al-Abdulmohsen aligns himself with Germany's far-right, anti-immigration party, Alternative for Germany (AfD), which Elon Musk recently promoted on X.

The market massacre draws comparison to the 2016 Christmas market attack that occurred in Berlin where 13 shoppers were killed in the same manner.

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Debris and closed stalls are seen on the site of a car-ramming attack on a Christmas market in Magdeburg, eastern Germany. RONNY HARTMANN/AFP via Getty Images

Sky News correspondent, Siobhan Robbins, in a televised segment said, "There has been a warning for Christmas markets across Europe to be on high alert for possible terror attacks."

Law enforcement encouraged eye witnesses and anyone with additional information to come forward and contact the Magdeburg police.

Originally published by Latin Times

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