This article may be excessively based on contemporary reporting. (March 2024) |
Bottrop and Essen car attack | |
---|---|
Location | Bottrop and Essen, Germany |
Date | 31 December 2018 and 1 January 2019 |
Target | People of foreign heritage |
Attack type | Vehicular attack |
Weapons | Silver Mercedes-Benz car[1] |
Deaths | 0 |
Injured | 10[2] |
Assailants | Andreas N.[3] |
Motive | acute episode of paranoid schizophrenia |
On 31 December 2018 and 1 January 2019, a car was intentionally driven into crowds of people in the cities of Bottrop and Essen in Germany, injuring ten[4] people.[5][6][7] First media reports suspected a terrorist background.[8] Later, the perpetrator was admitted to psychiatry and a surveyor certified that he is probably not guilty by reason of mental disease.[9]
According to the judgment of the court of December 2019, the act had no xenophobic or terrorist background, but was triggered by an acute episode of paranoid schizophrenia.[10]