Berlin crash – latest: Teacher killed after car ploughs into Kurfuerstendamm crowd

The suspected driver of the vehicle has been detained, Berlin police confirmed

Police cordon off Kurfuerstendamm street in Berlin after car crash

Berlin officials have confirmed a teacher was killed after a car drove into pedestrians in a central shopping district in the German capital.

Police spokesman Martin Dams said the suspected driver of the vehicle, a 29-year-old man of dual German-Armenian citizenship, was detained by pedestrians before he was arrested by police in the incident that left at least a dozen people injured.

Posters “expressing views about Turkey” - which has troubled relations with Armenia - were found in the car that drove in the crowd, Berlin’s top security official Iris Spranger said. However, an interior ministry spokesperson said “it is too early to speculate about the background (of the incident).”

Germany’s Bild news cited an investigator saying: “This was by no means an accident - someone on the rampage, an ice-cold killer” in addition to reports that the driver of the Renault Clio car was known to police.

American actor John Barrowman was caught up in the incident he described as “horrific.”

Key Points

• One dead and 30 injured after driver ploughs into crown on Kurfuerstendamm shopping boulevard
• Placard relating to Turkey found in car that drove into Kurfuerstendamm crowd
• Actor John Barrowman caught in ‘horrific’ incident
• Five people with ‘life threatening’ injuries, fire services say
• Suspected driver detained by pedestrians before arrest

[8 June 2022 11:26 · Thomas Kingsley]

Good morning

Good morning, we will be bringing all the latest updates from Berlin where a car has ploughed into a crowd on Kurfuerstendamm shopping boulevard injuring 30 people and killing one.

[8 June 2022 11:27 · Thomas Kingsley]

One dead and 30 injured after car ploughs into pedestrians in Berlin

One person was killed and several injured after a car drove into pedestrians in the German capital, Berlin.

A spokesperson for the German capital’s fire service told Reuters around 30 people were injured.

“A man is believed to have driven into a group of people. It is not yet known whether it was an accident or a deliberate act,” police said.

Mass-selling daily Bild said the man had been driving a small Renault car.

The incident took place near the scene of a 2016 fatal attack when Anis Amri, a failed Tunisian asylum seeker with Islamist links, hijacked a truck, killed the driver and then plowed it into a crowded western Berlin Christmas market, killing 11 people.

Read the full story here

(AP)

[8 June 2022 11:29 · Thomas Kingsley]

Actor John Barrowman caught in ‘horrific’ incident

John Barrowman has revealed he witnessed the Berlin incident that has left one dead.

Around 30 people were left injured after a car drove into pedestrians in the capital of Germany near the popular Kurfuerstendamm shopping boulevard on Wednesday (8 June).

Doctor Who star Barrowman said that he heard the “bang and the crash”, telling his followers in a Twitter video: “We were in a store, and then we came out and saw all the carnage.”

“It’s really pretty bad, guys,” he said, revealing that he was sitting behind a tree at the advice of his friend “just in case anything else happens”. He later said he was returning to his hotel as “we kind of don’t want to be on the street”.

Read the full story below:

[8 June 2022 11:31 · Thomas Kingsley]

Five people with ‘life threatening’ injuries, fire services say

A spokesperson from the Berlin fire service says five people have life threatening injuries after the car crash into the crowd on Kurfuerstendamm shopping boulevard.

(AFP via Getty)

[8 June 2022 11:33 · Thomas Kingsley]

What we know so far

The man drove into people on a street corner at around 10:30am before getting the car back on the road and then crashing into a shop window around a block further on, police spokesman Thilo Cablitz said.

Fire service spokesman Stefan Salzwedel put the number of injured at eight. Police said more than a dozen were injured. Police said several of them were in serious condition.

The driver was apparently detained by passers-by before being arrested swiftly by a police officer who was near the scene, Mr Cablitz said. He said police are trying to determine whether he deliberately drove into pedestrians or whether it was an accident, possibly caused by a medical emergency.

He said he didn't have more information on the man, who was driving a small car, or on what if anything he has told police so far.

Large numbers of rescue vehicles and first responders were at the scene.

The incident happened at one end of the Kurfuerstendamm shopping boulevard and next to the Breitscheidplatz square.

[8 June 2022 11:45 · Thomas Kingsley]

Watch: John Barrowman shares video from scene of incident

[8 June 2022 11:55 · Thomas Kingsley]

Pictured: At the scene of the crash near Breitscheidplatz

Emergency crews work at the site after a car crashed into a group of people, injuring dozens and killing at least on (REUTERS)

A police officer walks as a first-response helicopter takes off at the scene where a car crashed into a group of people near Breitscheidplatz in Berlin (REUTERS)

View of the car that crashed into a group of people before hitting a storefront at Tauentzienstrasse in Berlin (REUTERS)

A general view shows the area where a car crashed into a group of people near Breitscheidplatz in Berlin (REUTERS)

A police tactical team secures the area, near a car that crashed into a group of people before hitting a storefront at Tauentzienstrasse (REUTERS)

[8 June 2022 12:05 · Thomas Kingsley]

Police investigating whether incident was ‘deliberate attack'

Investigators are looking into whether the incident was a deliberate attack or possibly an accident with a medical cause, a police spokesperson said.

Police are investigating all possibilities, the spokesperson said, adding that the driver had received some medical treatment.

Blankets covered what appeared to be a body in a cordoned-off area guarded by police, Reuters images showed. A small, silver coloured Renault car was lodged inside a shop after smashing through a plate glass window.

Rescue workers moved apparently conscious people on stretchers towards an ambulance, including one woman sitting up, and another who covered her face with her hand.

(REUTERS)

[8 June 2022 12:20 · Thomas Kingsley]

Actor John Barrowman, who was at the scene with his husband Scott Gill, told Sky News he saw "a dead person in the middle of the road, covered up".

"The person came on the pavement by the Levi store and the bank, then drove onto the street, hit the person and killed them in the street, then came back onto the kerb, went down the kerb, through the cafe area and then into the storefront," he said.

"How horrible that this morning these people got up to just go through a regular day, they were going through their daily business. I mean we were shopping, but if you think if we'd have come out of that store one minute earlier..."

He said: "We are no experts but this looks intentional - by the way the car went on the pavement."

"There were chairs and tables smashed on the pavement - just a trail of destruction," said Mr Gill, a British architect.

[8 June 2022 12:38 · Thomas Kingsley]

Berlin mayor ‘deeply shocked’ by incident

Berlin mayor Franziska Giffey tweeted that she was “deeply shocked by this incident.”

“I am deeply affected by this incident. We know that there is one dead and several seriously injured. The police are working flat out to clarify the matter,” she said.

“I will get an idea of the situation on site during the course of the day. I would like to thank the more than 130 emergency services for their quick response and care for those affected.”