Essen: Syrian sets fire to houses and drives car into shops
Essen - A 41-year-old Syrian set fire to two apartment buildings in the North Rhine-Westphalian city of Essen on Saturday evening. He then drove a small truck into two shops, the Essen police announced. Alleged videos of the incident show that the perpetrator may also have been armed with a machete.
A total of 30 people were injured in the attacks. At least eight of the injured are children. Two of them sustained life-threatening injuries, a fire department spokesman told dpa.
At around 5:10 p.m., the fire department received the first emergency call reporting a fire in an apartment building in the Altenessen district of Essen. Shortly afterwards, another house on another street caught fire. The fire department was able to extinguish the fires and care for the injured.
Video shows attack scene
The situation on site was "dramatic," the fire department reported. Since the fire meant that some of the stairwells were unusable, residents waited at the windows and some held their children out of the windows. The emergency services had to rescue the residents using ladders.
A few minutes later, a small truck crashed into two shops in the Katernberg district of Essen. According to police, this attack only caused material damage.
A video circulating on the internet platform X presumably shows the scene immediately after the second car attack. Residents filmed from the window of their apartment onto the street. There you can see a white delivery van parked in front of a shop. Fruit crates and metal parts lying around indicate the ramming attack that apparently took place before the video.
The situation on site was "dramatic," the fire department reported. Since the fire meant that some of the stairwells were unusable, residents waited at the windows and some held their children out of the windows. The emergency services had to rescue the residents using ladders.
A few minutes later, a small truck crashed into two shops in the Katernberg district of Essen. According to police, this attack only caused material damage.
A video circulating on the internet platform X presumably shows the scene immediately after the second car attack. Residents filmed from the window of their apartment onto the street. There you can see a white delivery van parked in front of a shop. Fruit crates and metal parts lying around indicate the ramming attack that apparently took place before the video.
🚨BREAKING NEWS
— Europe Invasion (@EuropeInvasionn) September 29, 2024
Yesterday in Essen, Germany, a Syrian migrant set fire to two houses. Following that, he attacked shops with a machete. 31 people were injured, and the condition of two children is critical.
https://t.co/wbnhj2UHUW
Assassin holds machete in his hand
A man gets out of the truck and disappears in the direction of the store. In his right hand he holds a machete. He is wearing a gray sweater and a white baseball cap. A black and white scarf protrudes from under the cap. It is possibly a so-called Palestinian scarf (“Kufiya”).
The video also features a nasheed, a traditional Islamic form of music that is also used by Islamists. However, it is unclear whether the music is heard by those filming or whether it is coming from the attacker's vehicle.
Police officers finally arrested the perpetrator near the shops that were attacked. Another video is said to show the arrest. It shows a man wearing a grey sweater walking around in a kind of warehouse. Several people, presumably residents of the residential buildings seen in the video, arm themselves with iron bars and talk to the man.
A man gets out of the truck and disappears in the direction of the store. In his right hand he holds a machete. He is wearing a gray sweater and a white baseball cap. A black and white scarf protrudes from under the cap. It is possibly a so-called Palestinian scarf (“Kufiya”).
The video also features a nasheed, a traditional Islamic form of music that is also used by Islamists. However, it is unclear whether the music is heard by those filming or whether it is coming from the attacker's vehicle.
Police officers finally arrested the perpetrator near the shops that were attacked. Another video is said to show the arrest. It shows a man wearing a grey sweater walking around in a kind of warehouse. Several people, presumably residents of the residential buildings seen in the video, arm themselves with iron bars and talk to the man.
Motive of the attacks
Finally, two police officers with guns drawn enter the warehouse and order the man to lie down on the ground. The man follows the order and is handcuffed. A policewoman radios that the man is secured and that a knife and a machete have also been confiscated from the suspect.
Amokläufer in #Essen pic.twitter.com/O8tb17wjdS
— Sarah .B 💙💙💙 (@SarahBykry) September 28, 2024
One of the agitated residents apparently had to be restrained by those standing around from attacking the suspected attacker. The policewoman also repeatedly asked those standing around to back off.
The attacks were apparently targeted at a single family, as Mayor Thomas Kufen (CDU) announced according to media reports. The city had experienced "dramatic hours". The motive for the crime was apparently that the suspect's wife had recently separated from him.
Kufen thanked the fire brigade, the rescue services and the police. The politician also thanked the residents who confronted the Syrian suspect with iron bars at one of the crime scenes "for their civil courage".
The 41-year-old Syrian is due to appear before a judge later on Sunday. He is accused of serious arson and attempted murder.
The man had set fire to two residential buildings in Essen on Saturday evening, then drove a pickup truck into two shops and threatened people present there with a machete. He was eventually caught by local residents in a back yard and arrested by the police.
Source: Junge Freiheit
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