German police say they do not see an extremist motive behind a ramming attack with a van that claimed two lives and placed the driver’s mental health issues in the foreground.
There are “no indications of a political motive,” says Hajo Kuhlisch, chief of police in western city Muenster where the attack took place.
Rather, “the motive and origins (of the crime) lie within the perpetrator himself,” he added.
Far-right opponents of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s refugee policy suggested in the immediate aftermath of the attack it might be an Islamist act of terror, while some media reported the killer had links to right-wing extremist organizations.
So far the 48-year-old German who killed two and injured 20 — some seriously — with a van before shooting himself has been identified only as Jens R.
Prosecutors said he had faced allegations of threats, property damage and fraud in 2015 and 2016, all of which were dropped.
— AFP
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