Police confirm 3 dead, 20 injured after truck rams crowd in Germany
Poice spokesman Andrea Bode confirmed the number to the media and said an investigation is underway, so it's "too soon to speak of an attack."
He said that eye-witnesses report that another two people fled the vehicle after the crash, a detail which, he warned, has not yet been confirmed.
According to the daily Süddeutsche Zeitung, the driver of the truck was a German, 49, with mental disorders, whose home is being searched on suspicion that he had stockpiled explosives there.
In addition, North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Minister Herbert Reul said that "nothing indicates" that this was an Islamist attack.
He said that investigations must still determine why the perpetrator acted in this way, but rejected speculations that he was "a refugee or anything similar."
The crash occurred in the historic part of the city in an area of busy narrow streets on a day of summer-like temperatures, so that various shops and beer halls were doing business on their outdoor terraces.
Through a message on Twitter, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said Münster police are working in direct contact with state security forces to determine what happened.
Police have deployed a strong security unit in downtown Münster and are asking citizens to stay clear of the area.
According to local media, the truck driver committed suicide and police are inspecting the vehicle for possible explosives.
Meanwhile, the German government has expressed its solidarity with the victims, their friends, and families.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed her dismay at the deadly ramming of a crowd.
"We'll do everything possible to get to the bottom of what happened, and to look after those injured and the victims' families," the German leader said in a statement, in which she also expressed her gratitude to the police for their rapid intervention.
Justice Minister Katarina Barley also promised to make every effort to discover what led up to the tragedy.
Photo: EFE