On social media, the man, who is said to be a psychiatrist, has expressed contempt for Islam and support for the far-right AFD, reports German media.
At least four people were killed, including a small child, when he drove into a large crowd at a Christmas market in Magdeburg shortly after 7 pm on Friday evening. According to the latest media reports, over 200 people were injured, many seriously.
The man was arrested on the spot by the police after the rampage. The newspaper Die Welt writes that he came to Germany as an asylum seeker in 2006 and was granted permanent residence after being classified as a refugee in 2016. During his years in the country, he is said to have worked as a doctor at a correctional facility, according to the newspaper's sources.
Critical of Islam
As it appears, he acted as a lone perpetrator, said Sachsen-Anhalt's Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff on Friday.
The 50-year-old doctor, who according to media reports was specialized in psychiatry, has expressed himself very critically of Islam on social media.
"Germany wants to Islamize Europe", he writes in the profile text of his X account, which German media links to the 50-year-old. In an interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung from 2019, he described himself as "the most aggressive Islam critic ever".
Support for AFD
His online activity also gives the impression of a person who feels persecuted.
In the profile text of his X account, he accuses Germany of "hunting Saudi asylum seekers in and outside Germany to destroy their lives". In posts, he claims that the German police force is driving the "Islamization" of the country.
The man also appears to sympathize with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AFD), in a post writing that "the left is crazy" and that "We need AFD to protect the police from themselves.”
