The Magdeburg Massacre: A vicious terrorist attack that was also a massive German security failure

At 19:02 on December 20, a man named Taleb al-Abdulmohsen started a monstrous terror attack in the eastern German city of Magdeburg. Within minutes he drove a powerful SUV through a tightly packed Christmas market, over about 400 meters and accelerating repeatedly. He did not “merely” ram his rented car into a crowd of families, he did it, in effect, repeatedly, displaying a revolting, persistent determination to cause as much death and injury as possible. His innocent victims had no chance to escape.

Neither, fortunately, had he. After his mass murder drive, his very robust vehicle was wrecked from the multiple impacts with much more fragile human bodies, another indicator of the ferocious violence of the attack. He had to stop and was quickly arrested. That al-Abdulmohsen was not shot on sight is both remarkable and a credit to the discipline and self-control of the German police officer who pursued and stopped him under conditions of extreme stress.

As of December 22, five of al-Abdulmohsen’s victims, including a child, had died, more than 200 were injured, over 40 “severely” or “very severely,” according to the local authorities. The killer’s actions are clear; their immediate consequences also. Everything else is unresolved; and much unsettled.