A motorist who drove into a crowd and killed two people carried out the deadly attack after getting into an argument, according to witnesses.
A 33-year-old German man locally named as Jeffrey K, ploughed through a pedestrian zone in Leipzig’s city centre at 5pm on Monday before being arrested.
The father-of-one sped through the crowded area in a Volkswagen Taigo at 60mph, eyewitnesses told German newspaper Bild. The SUV then came to a stop in the market square.
Images of the aftermath showed the destroyed vehicle, with a smashed windshield and dented hood, surrounded by police and emergency services personnel.
When police arrived at the area, Jeffrey K, a building technician and boxing trainer, was still inside the car and surrendered to arrest without resistance, according to local reports.
Around an hour after the incident, Leipzig’s mayor, Burkhard Jung, confirmed that two German citizens had lost their lives – a 63-year-old woman and a 77-year-old man.
‘We mourn two dead, currently three seriously injured, and many more injured,’ Jung said in a statement. Candles were placed around the crash site later in the evening.
According to Bild, an argument is believed to have triggered the man to carry out the fatal attack, though this has not been officially confirmed.
A 33-year-old German man locally named as Jeffrey K, ploughed through a pedestrian zone in Leipzig’s city centre at 5pm on Monday before being arrested
Rescue workers stand next to a damaged car that crashed into several people in Leipzig, Germany, on Monday, May 4, 2026
Images of the aftermath showed the destroyed vehicle, with a smashed windshield and dented hood, surrounded by police and
Photos from the scene showed dozens of emergency service vehicles and personnel in the street as crowds of onlookers gathered to watch after the smash.
Police cordoned off the market square, and an ADAC rescue helicopter landed in the bustling Augustusplatz.
Later on in the evening, Saxony’s Minister-President Michael Kretschmer wrote on Instagram: ‘This deeply shocks me. My thoughts are with the victims and their families. I wish the injured strength and a speedy recovery.’
During a press conference in Meißen, he described the perpetrator as ‘mentally disturbed,’ according to local newspaper Leipziger Volkszeitung.
Saxony’s interior minister, Armin Schuster, echoed the statement, describing it as a ‘horrific rampage’.
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The police confirmed that the perpetrator has been arrested and that there is no further danger. The public prosecutor’s office is also investigating two counts of murder and at least two counts of attempted murder.
In earlier reports of the incident, local broadcaster Radio Leipzig claimed a person had been on top of the vehicle as it sped through Grimmaische Street.
The broadcaster also cited witnesses as saying there were several bodies covered with sheets, as well as a stabbing.
Hosam Algaer, a Leipzig resident originally from Libya, said he narrowly avoided being hit by the vehicle before running after it to try to help the injured until the car came to a stop.
He said: ‘The car braked, it stopped. There was a woman on top, and she ended up under the car, dead. She fell from the roof.
‘Luckily, things were not worse than they were thanks to the screaming. People understood very quickly that an idiot was driving and they fled.’
A city press release called the incident a ‘mass casualty event’.
While officials have not drawn firm conclusions on the suspect’s motive, several described the incident as an ‘Amokfahrt’ – a German term suggesting a rampage driven by madness.
This kind of act was ‘often associated with psychological instability,’ said Schuster.
This image shows the busy area of Leipzig city centre where two people were mowed down and at least 20 were injured on Monday evening
Police were still seen this morning working at the scene following the deadly smash
A policeman stands next to a body bag after a car rammed into a crowd of people
Police said late on Monday that there was ‘no basis on current knowledge’ to assume a political or religious motive.
Leipzig is located southwest of Berlin and has more than 630,000 inhabitants, making it one of the biggest cities in eastern Germany.
Like other European countries, Germany has witnessed a spate of car-ramming and stabbing incidents in recent years, some of which involved religious or political motivations and some carried out by people with mental health issues.
Last year, two people were killed in the western city of Mannheim when a 40-year-old man drove a car into a group of pedestrians, only weeks after a similar attack on a trade union demonstration in Munich, killing two and injuring more than 40, many of them children.
In December 2024, several people were killed in a car-ramming attack on a Christmas market in the eastern city of Magdeburg.
That incident came months after a stabbing attack at a festival in the western city of Solingen.
