A group of pedestrians in the southwestern German city of Stuttgart were struck by a driver behind the wheel of an SUV, killing one person and injuring seven people, some of them seriously, police have said.
“Five people were slightly injured and three seriously injured in the accident. Of the seriously injured, a 46-year-old woman has since succumbed to her injuries in the hospital,” police said in a Friday evening statement.
In an earlier post on the social media platform X, Stuttgart Police said all evidence pointed to a "tragic traffic accident" and that they had found no evidence of an attack.
The incident happened at an above-ground subway stop in Stuttgart city centre, police said.
The driver of the Mercedes vehicle was apprehended at the scene, a police spokesperson told reporters.
The area remained cordoned off as emergency responders, police and forensic specialists examined the scene.
Witnesses were being interviewed and subway services through the area were suspended.
Photos from the scene showed plastic gloves, blankets and bags scattered on the ground near the SUV.
String of car ramming attacks leaves Germans on alert
Germany has seen a spate of car ramming attacks in recent years, with fears high that such incidents might repeat again.
Two people died on 13 February after they were injured in a car-ramming attack on a labour union demonstration in Munich.
Some 39 people were injured in the attack and police arrested a 24-year-old Afghan national who came to Germany as an asylum seeker. Prosecutors said he appeared to have had an Islamic extremist motive.
On 20 December 2024, at least five people were killed and more than 200 were injured when a car slammed into a Christmas market in Magdeburg in eastern Germany.
And in June 2022, a 29-year-old man drove his car into a crowd of people in Berlin, killing one person and injuring dozens. Police identified the driver as a 29-year-old German-Armenian man.
