Van slams into a crowd outside German bar, leaving three dead, 20 injured

UPDATE: German prosecutors on Sunday said the man who killed two people when he drove his van into a crowd in Muenster had a record of run-ins with police and had expressed suicidal thoughts last month. Police said the 48-year-old German man shot and killed himself in his van after crashing into people outside a popular pub on Saturday afternoon. In addition to those killed, 20 people suffered injuries. Authorities later found illegal firecrackers disguised as a fake bomb, a fake pistol, and the gun the suspect used to kill himself inside the van. Prosecutors said the suspect had expressed thoughts of suicide in an email sent to a neighbor. Police received word of the email and searched the man’s homes in Muenster, Dresden, and Pirna but didn’t find him. In a joint statement on Sunday, police and prosecutors said the suspect did not express any intent to harm other people in his email. Prosecutor Elke Adomeit said the man had three previous court appearances in Muenster and two in nearby Arnsberg in 2015 and 2016. His legal run-ins, which were all dismissed, included property damage, threats, fraud, domestic conflicts, and a hit-and-run. Authorities are still investigating the motive behind Saturday’s crash. “We are now focusing our investigations on getting a comprehensive picture of the perpetrator’s behavior in the weeks [before the crash] to find out his motivation for this horrible act,” Muenster Police President Hajo Kuhlisch said in a statement.

UPDATE (4/7/18, 7:37 p.m.): The man who drove a van into a crowd of people outside a popular pub in Muenster, Germany, and then shot and killed himself was a German citizen, according to a top German security official. Herbert Reul, the interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia state, where Muenster is located, said the investigation remains in its early stages but “at the moment, nothing speaks for there being any Islamist background.” He added that officials continue to investigate all possibilities but that the incident clearly was not an accident. Reul said two people died as a result of the crash, correcting earlier reports of three deaths in addition to the driver. Police spokeswoman Vanessa Arlt said authorities so far are unable to validate accounts of other suspects who were in the van and fled. Police spokesman Peter Nuessmeyer told The Associated Press that he could not confirm German media reports that the driver of the van had psychological issues.

OUR EARLIER REPORT (4/7/18, 1:26 p.m.): A man drove a van into a crowd enjoying a warm, sunny Saturday afternoon outside a popular bar in Muenster, Germany, killing three people and injuring 20 others, according to police. Police spokesman Andreas Bode said the driver of the vehicle, whose identity was not yet known, killed himself after the crash, which, according to eyewitnesses, appeared to be a deliberate attack. But Bode cautioned it was too early in the investigation to speculate on a motive. Witnesses also reported that two people fled the van after the crash. Police are investigating those reports as well as examining a suspicious object found in the van, which led authorities to seal off a large area around the scene of the incident. Six of the 20 injured people were in serious condition, Bode said.