Europe
Driver rams car into crowd in Mannheim, leaving at least 1 person dead and others wounded
ASSOCIATED PRESS
March 3, 2025
Emergency services and police stand at Paradeplatz in Mannheim, Germany, after a serious incident, Monday March 3, 2025. (Dieter Leder/dpa via Associated Press)
MANNHEIM, Germany — One person was killed and others injured when a car rammed into a crowd Monday in western Germany, police said. A suspect is in custody.
Police in the German city of Mannheim asked the public to stay away from the downtown area and keep inside their homes. Other details were not immediately available. Mannheim, population 326,000, lies about 52 miles south of Frankfurt, and is a popular city for service members and civilians in the Kaiserslautern Military Community to visit.
Police spokesperson Stefan Wilhelm told n-tv television that an “incident” occurred at around 12:15 p.m. in the Paradeplatz area of downtown Mannheim that triggered a large police deployment. He said he couldn’t give details.
Paradeplatz, a major square in the downtown area, lies at the end of a pedestrianized street. Authorities pushed an alert on the Katwarn app telling people in Mannheim to avoid the city’s downtown area due to a big police deployment. Katwarn is used by officials to communicate information about major emergencies such as thunderstorms, militant attacks or fires.