UPDATED 8:44 p.m. ET: The death toll has risen to 12, with 48 people injured, after a truck driver barreled into a crowd at a Berlin Christmas market on Monday, December 19, reports CNN.
UPDATED 5:35 p.m. ET: At least nine people were killed and 50 injured after a driver plowed a tractor trailer into a Christmas market in Berlin, Germany on Monday, December 19. The deadly incident is being investigated as a terrorist attack, CNN reports, adding that the suspected driver has been apprehended and another person in the truck at the time of the attack died at the scene.
Original story below:
At least nine people were killed and several others injured after a truck driver plowed into a Christmas market in Berlin on Monday, December 19. According to CNN, police believe it to be a terrorist attack.
“A truck just ran over a sidewalk at #Breitscheidplatz Our colleague report multiple injuries. more to follow,” Berlin police tweeted shortly after the incident, which occurred at the busy market in Breitscheidplatz square.
The suspected driver has since been apprehended, a Berlin police spokesperson told CNN, as an investigation continues.
A witness named Emma Rushton told CNN that the truck appeared to be driving at 40 MPH and that “there’s no way it was an accident.” According to the New York Times, the truck driver jumped the sidewalk and drove into a crowd situated around wooden stands at the market, which is set up around the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, and draws thousands of people each year.
The incident is similar to the terrorist truck attack that occurred in July on Bastille Day in Nice, France, which left at least 80 people dead and more than 400 injured.
The incident comes after the Department of State alerted U.S. citizens to be on high alert of terrorist attacks throughout Europe last month and urged citizens to “exercise caution at holiday festivals, events, and outdoor markets.”
Updates to come.
