German Interior Ministry Nancy Faeser on Sunday promised a swift investigation into the Magdeburg Christmas market attack, saying “every stone” was being turned over.
“The investigation by the security authorities is in full swing,” she said in a statement.
Faeser said all available information on the 50-year-old perpetrator from Saudi Arabia was being pieced together, but acknowledged he “does not fit a previous pattern.”
The minister acknowledged that the man, who arrived in Germany in 2006 and worked as a doctor, had come to the attention of law enforcement and government authorities in the past.
The revelations raise questions about whether Friday’s car ram attack, which killed five people and injured 200, could have been prevented.
“The perpetrator’s positions and statements are being investigated, as well as the information and procedures available from various authorities and the judiciary,” Faeser said.
She said the perpetrator behaved like an “Islamist terrorist” even though he was “clearly ideologically an Islamophobe.”
