Munich mother and daughter dead after suspected car ramming attack

A 37-year-old woman from Munich who sustained severe injuries in a car ramming earlier this week has died, the Bavarian State Office of Criminal Investigation said on Saturday.

A 2-year-old, her daughter, died of injuries sustained in the attack, officials said shortly beforehand.

Police said at least 39 people were injured on Thursday when a 24-year-old Afghan drove his car into a demonstration organized by the verdi trade union.

The driver is in custody and investigations continue.

Tributes paid

Verdi boss Frank Werneke expressed his deep shock at the death of the mother and daughter. He said the woman was a colleague who joined the demonstration with her child. “The grief over the suffering of the victims of the Munich attack is almost immeasurable,” he said.

Munich Lord Mayor Dieter Reiter said the woman was a municipal employee. “She and her daughter were murdered when she took to the streets for her trade union rights. The pain cannot be put into words,” Reiter said.

Bavarian state premier Markus Söder took to X, saying, “All of this hurts so much and is so senseless. The whole of Bavaria is in mourning.”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited the scene of the crime, laid a rose and demanded the toughest penalty for the attacker.

“Things like this should not happen,” Scholz said. “Anyone who does something like this must expect the harshest penalties.”

He said anyone who does not have a right of residence must leave the country at the end of their sentence.

Scholz also thanked rescue and emergency services staff.

“We must all stand together now and ensure that our country sticks together,” he added.

Investigations continue

Investigators currently assume the offence had an Islamist background. The driver is in custody.

The suspect, an Afghan citizen, admitted during questioning to intentionally accelerating into the march, said Gabriele Tilmann, the chief public prosecutor for Munich’s Central Office for Combating Extremism and Terrorism (ZET).

She cited police testimony that the driver shouted “Allahu Akbar” – Arabic for “God is greatest” – after the attack as evidence of a possible Islamist motive.

The Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office took over the investigation on Friday evening. “It is suspected that the offence was religiously motivated and is to be understood as an attack on the free democratic basic order” of Germany, the authority said.

The man last resided in Germany legally. According to a court judgement against the rejection of his asylum application from October 2020, he is said to have lied about his escape story. But Munich city issued a toleration decision in 2021 and issued the man a residence permit.

A week before Germans are due to vote in snap national parlilamentary elections, lawmakers are divided over how to respond.