By Daily Mail (World News) | Created at 2025-03-04 11:35:12 | Updated at 2025-03-04 13:59:28
2 hours ago
This is the chilling note left taped to the dashboard of the car allegedly used by the Mannheim ramming attacker to slaughter two in a carnival rampage.
Terrified shoppers desperately fled the scene in the Paradeplatz area of downtown Mannheim after two people - a 83-year-old woman and a man aged 54 - were killed when alleged attacker Alexander S. smashed a Ford Fiesta car smashed through a group of people on Monday at about 12.15pm.
Police said 11 people have been injured, five of whom are in serious condition, after it was initially reported that 25 people had been injured.
The twisted note he reportedly left on the car's dashboard contained mathematical formulas related to calculating the stopping distance for a car driving at 50 km per hour.
It also included a childlike drawing of a bizarre grinning face with its tongue out and, flanked by two hearts.
And another drawing showed a car and a person, with the phrase 'Dani bremst' (Dani brakes) written next to it.
Investigators believe the note could indicate the act was pre-planned and mathematically calculated to target people.
The man allegedly behind yesterday's horrifying massacre was a violent offender with a history of bodily harm, drink-driving, and hate speech convictions who was left free to unleash terror on innocent families.
Alleged attacker Alexander S. (pictured) smashed a Ford Fiesta car smashed through a group of people on Monday at about 12.15pm
The twisted note he reportedly left on the car's dashboard (pictured) contained mathematical formulas related to calculating the stopping distance for a car driving at 50 km per hour
CCTV footage captured the car accelerating before ramming into a crowd in Mannheim
The 40-year-old German from Ludwigshafen, Rheinland-Pfalz, was well known to authorities, yet somehow was still free to turn a happy and bustling carnival into a scene of unimaginable horror.
Even more chilling, officials have admitted the lone-wolf perpetrator had a long and documented history of serious psychological issues, raising fresh questions over why nothing was done to monitor him.
Senior Prosecutor Romeo Schüssler confirmed: 'There are concrete indications of a psychological illness, which is the primary focus of our investigation.'
Baden-Württemberg's Interior Minister Thomas Strobl admitted: 'The motivation could lie with the suspect himself, not any political or religious ideology.'
Baden-Württemberg's Minister-President Winfried Kretschmann offered a grim reality check, saying: 'Some attackers act out of dark motives, others are ill or disturbed.'
The suspect, who lived alone, had no children, no partner, and was described as increasingly isolated before his disturbing and violent breakdown.
When armed officers finally swooped to arrest him, the suspect rammed a blank-firing pistol into his mouth and pulled the trigger, leaving himself with catastrophic self-inflicted injuries.
He was rushed to hospital in a critical condition, where he remains but under armed guard.
Emergency services and police stand at Paradeplatz in Mannheim, Germany, after a serious incident, Monday March 3, 2025
A general view shows the scene after a SUV vehicle was driven into pedestrians in Mannheim, Germany, 03 March 2025
The bloody rampage erupted on Germany's traditional day of pre-Lenten carnival celebrations, where thousands of revellers had crowded into Mannheim's central Planken shopping district.
Families had been out enjoying food stalls, carnival rides and festive music under clear skies when the brutal terror struck without warning.
At 12:15pm, the alleged attacker's black Ford Fiesta roared into the pedestrian zone at shocking speed.
The car rushed hundreds of metres through the crowds, witnesses said, deliberately veering into innocent men, women and children.
Terrified families screamed in horror as bodies were flung through the air and shattered debris littered the pavement.
An 83-year-old woman and a 54-year-old man were killed instantly, their bodies left sprawled among the wreckage.
At least eleven others were injured, including a young child who remains in hospital, and now several of the victims are fighting for their lives.
Mannheim Police President Ulrike Schäfer said it has been 'a perfectly normal day in the life of Mannheim' until the horror unfolded.
Police investigators check a damaged car at the scene after a vehicle was driven to pedestrians in Mannheim
The CCTV footage shows a black car, which rammed into a crowd of people in Mannheim hurtling through the city as pedestrians stare on
As the scale of the carnage emerged, Mannheim University Hospital triggered its disaster response plan within minutes.
Non-urgent operations were cancelled immediately to free up space for emergency surgeries.
Intensive care capacity was rapidly expanded to cope with the sudden influx of critically wounded victims.
Operations that hadn't yet begun were scrapped, and extra ICU beds were urgently opened, the hospital confirmed.
Within moments, heavily armed police carrying sub-machine guns flooded the city centre, as helicopters swooped low above the streets.
Police also locked down bridges and roads into Mannheim, fearing the nightmare might not be over.
But police and prosecutors later determined there was no political, religious or extremist motive, and the suspect was not known to have any links to terror networks, officials said.
The rapid police response was partly credited to Mannheim's limited CCTV network.
Cameras gave police the crucial video footage they needed to confirm they were dealing with a premeditated massacre, not a tragic accident.
Mannheim Mayor Christian Specht said: 'Thanks to video surveillance, it was clear within minutes this was no ordinary accident but a tragedy.'
Footage shows dozens of people fleeing a major incident in Mannheim, Germany today
Earlier footage showed captured shoppers making the mad dash down the street to flee the scene
The shocking slaughter came just nine months after the murder of Police Commissioner Rouven Laur, who was stabbed to death in Mannheim by an Afghan asylum seeker linked to IS.
Mayor Specht described Monday as 'another black day for Mannheim.'
Meanwhile all remaining Fasnacht parades across Mannheim, Heidelberg and Schwetzingen were immediately cancelled out of respect for the dead.
Heidelberg Mayor Eckart Würzner said: 'The horrific images from Mannheim have left us all speechless.'
He said it would be 'unthinkable' to hold a joyful carnival parade after such a tragedy.
Singer Maite Kelly also scrapped her planned Mannheim concert out of solidarity with the grieving city.
Olaf Scholz, who is seeing out the remaining days of his chancellorship as Germany forms its new government, said the nation stood with Mannheim, mourning with the families of the victims after what he called a 'senseless act of violence.'
Conservative CDU leader Friedrich Merz warned that Germany must 'become a safe country again' and promised to show 'absolute determination' to prevent such atrocities from happening again.
Meanwhile Interior Minister Thomas Strobl said that complete security could never be guaranteed, and said 'We cannot turn our cities into fenced fortresses.'
Emergency workers stand by during a major operation in the city center of Mannheim, Germany
Mounted police patrol near the scene after a car drove into a crowd, in Mannheim, Germany
International messages of support poured in, with French President Emmanuel Macron writing on X: 'To all people in Mannheim, especially the families of the victims, and to the German people, France stands with you.'
The Mannheim attack is now the third deadly vehicle rampage in Germany in just three months.
In February 2025, an Afghan national drove into a Verdi trade union demonstration in Munich, killing a mother and her child.
Last December, a Saudi national ploughed his car into a Magdeburg Christmas market crowd, killing six and injuring hundreds.
And Germany is still haunted by the memories of the 2016 Berlin Christmas Market massacre when Tunisian asylum seeker Anis Amri hijacked a lorry and murdered twelve innocent victims.
In response to the Mannheim massacre, police patrols were immediately intensified across the country.
High-visibility officers were also deployed across nearby cities hosting carnival celebrations, and pedestrian zones were placed under heightened surveillance.
In Ulm, police stepped up their presence on the streets and at upcoming Fasnacht events. Police Spokesperson Sven Vrancken said police visibility has been significantly increased to strengthen the public's 'sense of security.'
