28 injured after driver rams into a group of people in Germany; government suspects attack

Officers arrested the suspect after firing a shot at the car, deputy police chief Christian Huber said. Officials also believe it to be an attack.

The incident comes after a string of attacks involving immigrants in recent months that have pushed migration to the forefront of the campaign for Germany’s February 23 election.

The incident also comes a day before high-ranking politicians from across the world gather in the city for the prestigious Munich Security Conference, which is to take place at a location some 1.6 kilometers (1 mile) away from the site of the crash, local media DW reported.

US Vice-President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are set to arrive later on February 13.

Suspect can’t hope for leniency: Chancellor

Responding to the incident, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that a man who drove a car into a crowd of people in Munich cannot hope for leniency and must leave the country, as per local news outlet Focus.

“This perpetrator cannot hope for any leniency. He must be punished and he must leave the country. If it was an attack, we must take consistent action against possible perpetrators with all means of justice” said Scholz.

Mayor Dieter Reiter also expressed his condolences, saying he was “deeply shocked” by the incident. “My thoughts are with the injured.”

“One person is lying on the street and a young man has been taken away by the police. People are sitting on the ground, crying and trembling,” a reporter for the local BR broadcaster wrote in a post on X.

The police are setting up a gathering point for witnesses in the Loewenbraeukeller, one of Munich’s oldest beer halls.

(With inputs from AP and Reuters)