Bottrop and Essen car attack
Bottrop Essen Bottrop and Essen car attack (North Rhine-Westphalia)
Location	Bottrop and Essen, Germany
Date	31 December 2018 and 1 January 2019
Target	People of foreign heritage
Attack type	Vehicular attack
Weapons	Silver Mercedes-Benz car[1]
Deaths	0
Injured	10[2]
Assailants	Andreas N.[3]
Motive	acute episode of paranoid schizophrenia

On 31 December 2018 and 1 January 2019, a car was intentionally driven into crowds of people in the cities of Bottrop and Essen in Germany, injuring ten^[4] people.^[5][6][7] First media reports suspected a terrorist background.^[8] Later, the perpetrator was admitted to psychiatry and a surveyor certified that he is probably not guilty by reason of mental disease.^[9]

According to the judgment of the court of December 2019, the act had no xenophobic or terrorist background, but was triggered by an acute episode of paranoid schizophrenia.^[10]

Attack

On New Year's Eve, a 50-year-old attacker tried to hit a person with his car in Bottrop, but the man was able to avoid the vehicle. Minutes later, the man drove his car into a crowd of people at the Berliner Platz in Bottrop, injuring two men from Syria and Afghanistan, along with a woman and a child.^[11] In Essen, the man tried again to drive into a crowd of people who were waiting for a bus. Police stopped the man on the Rabenhorst street. Upon his arrest, the man reportedly expressed xenophobic and racist motives.^[12] The attacker is reported to have schizophrenia.^[13]

Reaction

Herbert Reul, Minister of the Interior of North Rhine-Westphalia said about the attack, that the perpetrator "wanted to kill people of foreign heritage."^[14]

Victims

In total, the perpetrator injured eight people, four of whom are a family from Syria, composed by two daughters aged 16 and 27 and the 48-year-old father who were slightly injured, and the 46-year-old mother who was critically injured and was operated. In addition, a 10-years-old boy also from Syria, a child of four years and a 29-years-old woman from Afghanistan were also hit and injured. The nationality and age of the eighth victim is unknown.^[15]