According to the judgment of the court of December 2019, the act had no xenophobic or terrorist background, but was triggered by an acute episode of paranoid schizophrenia.[10]
Attack
On New Year's Eve, a 50-year-old attacker tried to hit a person with his car in Bottrop, but the man was able to avoid the vehicle. Minutes later, the man drove his car into a crowd of people at the Berliner Platz in Bottrop, injuring two men from Syria and Afghanistan, along with a woman and a child.[11] In Essen, the man tried again to drive into a crowd of people who were waiting for a bus. Police stopped the man on the Rabenhorst street. Upon his arrest, the man reportedly expressed xenophobic and racist motives.[12] The attacker is reported to have schizophrenia.[13]
Reaction
Herbert Reul, Minister of the Interior of North Rhine-Westphalia said about the attack, that the perpetrator "wanted to kill people of foreign heritage."[14]
Victims
In total, the perpetrator injured eight people, four of whom are a family from Syria, composed by two daughters aged 16 and 27 and the 48-year-old father who were slightly injured, and the 46-year-old mother who was critically injured and was operated. In addition, a 10-years-old boy also from Syria, a child of four years and a 29-years-old woman from Afghanistan were also hit and injured. The nationality and age of the eighth victim is unknown.[15]
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