A fatal car crash in the Mannheim city center has led to the SPD calling for a comprehensive investigation of the incident and an examination of the social media profiles of the suspected perpetrator.
The incident in Mannheim is to be thoroughly clarified, said Sebastian Hartmann, the SPD’s parliamentary group’s interior policy spokesman, to the Rheinische Post (Wednesday edition). “Beyond a suspected mental illness of the suspected perpetrator, his digital profiles and social media entries need to be taken into account. Did a radicalization become apparent there and how could a reaction have been made to it?” the SPD politician asked.
The suspected perpetrator’s motives are allegedly different from those of Islamist attackers of similar attacks. “What remains striking are the different reactions in the network. Every act of violence is to be condemned and every instrumentalization is prohibited in the face of respect for the victims of the acts” Hartmann said further.
The Union, on the other hand, sees a need for action in dealing with perpetrators with mental health issues and in preventing such acts. “The federal government must now quickly check with the states what measures we need to take to prevent attacks and assaults in the future” said Alexander Throm, the CDU’s parliamentary group’s interior policy spokesman, to the Rheinische Post.
“This includes the question of how we handle people with mental health issues and if the existing preventive measures are sufficient” the CDU politician said, referring to the fact that the investigations are still in their early stages, with many things still unclear and that the results need to be awaited. “At the current time, we can only let the authorities do their work and express our deepest condolences to the victims and their relatives” Throm said further.