The General Public Prosecutor’s Office in Saxony-Anhalt has revised its assessment of the financial capabilities of the Weihnachtsmarkt attacker in Magdeburg. State Prosecutor Klaus Tewes told the Welt am Sonntag, “Preliminary findings indicate that this was a premeditated attack by an amok shooter. Therefore, we are not considering the suspect’s financial capabilities.” The previous indications suggested that the suspect was financially capable.
According to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the alleged attacker had booked a BMW X3 online a few days before the attack on December 20 and picked it up on the day of the attack. “Whether perhaps the driver assistance systems were manipulated or disabled is being investigated” Tewes said. The preparation of the expert report will take “some time.” A crucial question is whether the accused had an accomplice. So far, Tewes assumes that the accused is a single, independent individual. Meanwhile, the number of complaints filed in Naumburg has increased. “We now have more than 20 criminal complaints against various individuals, with charges of negligent homicide and dangerous bodily harm” Tewes said.
On February 13, a parliamentary inquiry committee will be established in the state parliament to investigate the attack. Committee Chair Karin Tschernich-Weiske (CDU) told the Welt am Sonntag, “We will first clarify the circumstances of the attack in relation to security concepts and the cooperation of the responsible authorities. If there were errors in the concept, they must be corrected as quickly as possible for future markets – that’s why the urgency at this point.”
SPD committee member Rüdiger Erben, a former state secretary in the state interior ministry, said, “The attacker had 43,000 followers on his X-account and posted 121,000 tweets. Second, he had a profile picture of an AR-15 assault rifle, a weapon often used by mass shooters in the US. Third, he worked at a prison for the mentally ill. All this should have raised red flags for the authorities.” According to Erben, the doctor from Saudi Arabia was the second most followed in Saxony-Anhalt, after the Magdeburg band Tokio Hotel. Erben plans to ask in the committee why the numerous entries about the man at the police did not lead to consequences: “We must now clarify this.