5:52 p.m .: After the fatal incident on a Berlin shopping street, subway traffic was temporarily suspended there. The Kurfürstendamm, Zoologischer Garten and Wittenbergplatz train stations were affected, said a spokesman for the Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG) on Wednesday evening.
The traffic on the subway lines 1, 2, 3 and 9 was temporarily interrupted there on the instructions of the police, from around 3.30 p.m. to around 5 p.m. The subway is now running again. Some bus routes are still being diverted.
4:36 p.m .: After the fatal incident in Berlin with a driver, in addition to documents, posters with inscriptions were found in the car. According to the Berlin Senator for the Interior, Iris Spranger, there was no “real letter of confession”. “There should be posters where he talks about Turkey,” said Spranger.
The exact motivation of the driver must be examined. A police spokeswoman said: “We are still checking the nature of the statements on documents and posters found in the car.” It was previously reported that a letter of confession was found in the car. However, nothing was known about the content.
4:27 p.m .: A teacher from Hesse died in the incident with a car in Berlin. According to media reports, the killed teacher is 51 years old. The woman was in Berlin with 24 tenth-grade students from a school in Bad Arolsen in northern Hesse, the Hessian state government announced on Wednesday. Another teacher is said to have accompanied her, the teacher is said to have been seriously injured. Eleven students are said to be among the injured, reports the “Bild” newspaper. A pregnant woman with a broken hip is said to be among the injured.
3:52 p.m .: The police now want to salvage the accident car from the Douglas, as a press spokeswoman for FOCUS Online confirmed when asked. This also explains the reports about the evacuation of the Europa Center: For security reasons – the car could contain an explosive device – the building is partially entered. However, the back of the mall is still accessible. The Ku’Damm underground station was also closed on the side of the crime scene. When asked, the police could not confirm whether the surrounding buildings of the Douglas perfumery would also be cleared. Meanwhile, a police drone continues to fly over the crime scene.
3.45 p.m .: Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier expressed his dismay after the fatal car incident in Berlin. “My thoughts are with the seriously and very seriously injured, with the fatality,” he said on Wednesday. “And they are with those who had to experience terrible things. My deepest sympathy goes to you, all your relatives and survivors.” The Federal President was not in Berlin himself on Wednesday, but had moved his official residence to Rottweil in Baden-Württemberg for a few days. It was there that he found out “with great dismay” about the terrible incident on the popular shopping street near the Memorial Church.
3:36 p.m .: According to a report by the “Berliner Zeitung”, a letter of confession was found in the car. The motive is still unclear, but there should be no political motivation. According to information from the newspaper, investigators assume an amok act, but not a terrorist attack. Nothing is known about the exact content of the letter. The “Bild” newspaper quoted an investigator: “Definitely not an accident – a gunman, an ice-cold killer.” A police spokeswoman did not initially confirm this.
3.30 p.m .: The police have confirmed to FOCUS Online that the nearby Europa Center is “partly” committed on the street side. It is a security measure. The Europa Center is only about 85 meters from the scene of the crime. A FOCUS Online reporter reports from the site that the center has been cordoned off. About 20 minutes ago there were no barriers in front of the entrance. It is not yet clear why the center was closed.
3:24 p.m .: According to current information, there are still over 130 emergency services on site. A police drone is currently flying over the crime scene, reports a reporter from FOCUS Online from the scene.
3:01 p.m .: According to police, at least twelve people were injured in the fatal car incident in Berlin. Police spokesman Thilo Calbitz told FOCUS Online. Thirty injuries were reported before, then eight. The fire department now speaks of six people with life-threatening injuries.
2:58 p.m .: After the fatal car incident, an emergency pastoral team is on site. Pastor Justus Münster, representative of the Evangelical Church for emergency pastoral care in Berlin, told the German Press Agency on Wednesday afternoon that eleven pastors were on duty.
According to him, the coordinator for emergency pastoral care in the Archdiocese of Berlin, Brother Norbert Verse, was also there. A spokesman for the fire brigade told the dpa on site that a place for the psychosocial emergency care of witnesses had been set up at the Memorial Church.
2:50 p.m .: After the fatal incident with a driver in Berlin, the fire department is now talking about six people with life-threatening injuries. In addition, there were three seriously injured and several slightly injured, said a fire department spokesman on site. He did not give a total number. Five people were said to be in mortal danger. A woman died.
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2.40 p.m .: The federal government expressed its sympathy after the fatal incident involving a driver in Berlin. The government was “very affected and shaken,” said deputy government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann on Wednesday. Thoughts and sympathy are with the injured and their families.
A spokesman for Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) also expressed sympathy for those affected. “Above all, we hope that the seriously injured and injured will recover,” he said. Investigations and clarification were under high pressure, but it was too early to talk about the background.
2:07 p.m .: EU Parliament President Roberta Metsola was concerned about the fatal incident by a driver in Berlin. On behalf of the European Parliament, she wanted to say “that our thoughts are with the relatives of the dead person and the survivors,” said Metsola on Wednesday in the Strasbourg European Parliament.
A car drove into a group of people on Wednesday on the popular shopping mile near the Berlin Memorial Church. One person died and five others suffered life-threatening injuries. The driver was temporarily arrested.
1:51 p.m .: The Berlin police have set up a personal information center. She can be reached at 030 – 84854460. Relatives can call this number to obtain information about the whereabouts of relatives and acquaintances who may have been injured in the accident.
1:35 p.m .: Other sources also say that a group of students was part of the crowd into which a car crashed on Wednesday morning. The journalist Antje Hildebrandt wrote on Twitter that two teachers from Hesse were among the victims. In her post you can read: “This was reported to us by an eyewitness who took care of the shocked young people. “
And the German Press Agency is now reporting on a group of students who were affected by the fatal car incident in Berlin.
1:20 p.m .: A few hours after the fatal incident by a driver in Berlin, the exact process becomes clearer. According to the police, the man drove his small Renault car at around 10:26 a.m. on the corner of Ku’damm and Rankestrasse onto the sidewalk of Ku’damm and into a group of people.
Then, according to the information, he drove back to the intersection and almost 200 meters further east on Tauentzienstrasse. Shortly before the corner of Marburger Strasse, he steered the car off the road onto the sidewalk again, touched another car, crossed Marburger Strasse and ended up in the window of a perfumery shop at Tauentzienstrasse 16.
The driver is said to be a 29-year-old German-Armenian living in Berlin, the police said on Twitter. Passers-by held him and handed him over to the emergency services.
1:11 p.m .: As a police spokesman explained to “Bild live”, the fatality is said to be a teacher who was traveling with a group of students. He also said a 16-year-old girl was among the injured.
1:02 p.m .: According to the fire department, five people were critically injured in the incident with a small car that ran onto a sidewalk in Berlin. There are a total of eight seriously injured, said a spokesman on Wednesday at the scene at the beginning of Kurfürstendamm in Berlin-Charlottenburg. Five of them were in mortal danger. According to the police and fire brigade, one person was also killed in the incident.
12.45 p.m .: According to the fire department, the driver of the car is also slightly injured. “He also needs help from us,” said a spokesman for the “Berliner Morgenpost”. In the meantime, the police have taken the suspect away from the scene of the accident with a prisoner van.
12.40 p.m .: In the fatal incident in Berlin, the driver drove almost 200 meters further after the first collision with people. This stretch is between the corner of Kurfürstendamm, Rankestrasse and Tauentzienstrasse, where the car drove into a group of people and then came to a stop in the window of a branch of the Douglas perfumery chain.
It was initially unclear whether the driver covered this distance on the sidewalk or on the street. The police asks everyone who has photos or video material to upload it to their information portal.
12:36 p.m .: An employee of a shop at the Kurfürstendamm underground station, near the scene of the accident, reports to FOCUS Online of screaming people on the sidewalk. He didn’t see what was happening, but he knew from the background noise that it must be bad.
12:20 p.m .: There is a snack bar right next to the scene of the accident. Its owner said to FOCUS Online: “I was in the store, didn’t see anything, just suddenly heard a loud bang. Then I saw a car hit the Douglas store. Apparently he drove across the square and took a few flower pots with him. And he had previously hit people on Rankestrasse. I caught a glimpse of the driver, a short, stout, bald man. They arrested him. I saw several injured people on the ground. One man was unconscious, he was taken away by helicopter, and then others followed.”
12.10 p.m .: Berlin’s Interior Senator Iris Spranger (SPD) was shocked. “I’m in the situation center and keep myself informed. My thoughts and deepest sympathy are with all those affected!” Spranger tweeted on Wednesday. “I am shocked by the incident in Charlottenburg.”
12:00 p.m .: A car drove into a crowd in Berlin, according to the fire department, one person died and several were injured. The police spoke of more than a dozen injuries, the fire department of initially eight confirmed injured people. According to the police, the accident happened around 10:30 a.m. on Tauentzienstraße (near house number 13) near the Memorial Church and the Ku’damm.
Apparently, the driver had veered off the road with his car or deliberately left it, then crashed into a crowd on the sidewalk, then drove on and finally rushed into a Douglas branch.
The Renault Clio stopped there, people in the branch were not injured.
The police spokesman, Thilo Cablitz, said: “We do not know at this point in time whether it was an intentional act or a traffic accident.” The alleged driver of the vehicle was arrested by the police on site. He had previously tried to run away, but passers-by held him.
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