Munich police said Thursday afternoon there was no public danger after a car drove into a group of people earlier in the day in the capital city of Germany's southern state of Bavaria. They said at least 28 people were injured in the incident.

The driver was detained promptly at the scene, police said, later saying that he was a 24-year-old Afghan national asylum seeker.

"The driver of the vehicle was secured on the spot; he currently poses no further danger," police said.

A police spokesman also said that it remains initially unclear how seriously the people were injured, and whether the crash was an accident or a deliberate act.

Bavarian state premier Markus Söder said circumstances pointed to the incident being a deliberate attack.

What else do we know about the Munich car incident so far? 

Broadcaster BR24 said the group reportedly consisted of people carrying out a token strike by the trade union Verdi.

It also quoted eyewitnesses as saying two men had been in the car, with one of them being shot by police and carried away. Police were calling on the public to refrain from speculation, it said. 

According to police, the car drove past a police vehicle that was guarding the rear of the trade union's march in central Munich before plowing into the crowd. They said they fired one shot before detaining the driver.

The news magazine Focus said some of the injured were in critical condition, with police saying two people were seriously hurt.

The city's mayor, Dieter Reiter, said he was "deeply shocked" by what had happened and that children were among the injured.

The incident occurred just a day before high-ranking politicians from across the world gather in the city for the prestigious Munich Security Conference, which is to take place at a location some 1.6 kilometers (1 mile) away from the site of the crash.

Bavaria's interior minister, Joachim Hermann, however said authorities "do not believe at present that there is any connection with the security conference," adding that any potential motive of the driver had first to be investigated more closely.

Hermann also said the man was known to police, having committed shoplifting and drugs offenses in the past.

Author: Timothy Jones

First published: February 13, 2025

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