One person dead, several injured after car plows into Berlin crowd
A car was driven into a crowd on a busy shopping street in western Berlin, killing at least one person, authorities say.
More than a dozen people were injured, some of them seriously, when the driver plowed into people on Kurfuerstendamm avenue, near the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, at around 10:30 a.m. local time on Wednesday morning, a police spokesman said. Authorities had earlier given an initial estimate of 30 injured.
The car, a silver Renault Clio, continued toward the tree-lined Tauentzienstrasse street before veering off the road and crashing through a glass shop window, the spokesman, Thilo Cablitz, said.
"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 on Twitter, adding that the driver was being held at the scene.
Cablitz said that the driver is now being questioned.
More than 130 emergency services personnel are at the scene, Berlin's mayor Franziska Giffey said in a post on Twitter, thanking them for their quick response. Videos shared on social media showed a helicopter arriving at the scene.
"I am deeply affected by this incident. We know that there is one dead and there are several seriously injured. The police are working urgently to clarify the situation," Giffey tweeted.
Wednesday's incident unfolded near the spot of a fatal attack in December 2016, when Anis Amri, a Tunisian national, rammed a tractor-trailer truck into a crowded Christmas market, killing 12 people and injuring 48.
The car, a silver Renault Clio, continued toward the tree-lined Tauentzienstrasse street before veering off the road and crashing through a glass shop window, the spokesman, Thilo Cablitz, said.
"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 on Twitter, adding that the driver was being held at the scene.
Cablitz said that the driver is now being questioned.
More than 130 emergency services personnel are at the scene, Berlin's mayor Franziska Giffey said in a post on Twitter, thanking them for their quick response. Videos shared on social media showed a helicopter arriving at the scene.
"I am deeply affected by this incident. We know that there is one dead and there are several seriously injured. The police are working urgently to clarify the situation," Giffey tweeted.
Wednesday's incident unfolded near the spot of a fatal attack in December 2016, when Anis Amri, a Tunisian national, rammed a tractor-trailer truck into a crowded Christmas market, killing 12 people and injuring 48.