(BERLIN) — At least one person was killed and a dozen others were injured when a car plowed into a crowd of pedestrians in a popular shopping district in Berlin on Wednesday morning, police said.
“It is not yet known whether it was an accident or intentional action,” the Berlin Police said in a statement via Twitter.
The deadly incident took place along the busy shopping street Tauentzienstrasse in the west of Germany’s capital at around 10:30 a.m. local time, according to police. A small vehicle was seen crashed into a storefront there.
The alleged driver was detained at the scene, police said.
Speaking to reporters on scene, a police spokesperson confirmed that a total of 12 people were injured, in addition to the one death. Another police spokesperson later told ABC News that eight of the injured were in serious condition.
A motive was unknown and it was unclear whether the incident was terror-related, according to police.
The scene was near the Breitscheidplatz, a public square in Berlin where 13 people were killed when an extremist deliberately drove a truck into a Christmas market in 2016.
U.S. officials have been told that German authorities are actively trying to determine whether Wednesday’s incident was an intentional ramming. There was concern given the proximity to the 2016 attack, ABC News has learned.
Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
