World
Nine-year-old boy killed in German Christmas market attack named as Andre Gleissner
The mother of a nine-year-old boy killed in the German Christmas market attack has paid tribute to “my little teddy bear”.
Andre Gleissner was one of at least five people who died, while more than 200 others were injured when a car ploughed into crowds in Magdeburg on Friday evening.
German Christmas market attack – latest updates
His mother Desiree Gleissner said in a post on Facebook: “Let my little teddy bear fly around the world again… Andre didn’t do anything to anyone… He was only with us on earth for nine years… why you… why. I don’t understand.
“Now you are with grandma and grandpa in heaven. They missed you very much as we miss you here now.
“You will always live on in our hearts… I promise you that.”
Police guard a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, yesterday. Pic: AP
A GoFundMe page set up to support Andre’s family raised nearly 50,000 euros before it was closed.
Franziska Helbich, a work colleague of his mum, wrote on the page Andre “was so looking forward to Christmas” but “will never be able to unwrap his presents”.
“With his cheerful smile and his zest for life, Andre leaves a big gap in the hearts of his family, friends and all those who knew him,” she said.
German police have confirmed four women, aged 45, 52, 67 and 75 were also among those killed in the incident.
A 50-year-old suspect was remanded in custody after appearing before a judge on Saturday evening.
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Magdeburg attack: A timeline of what happened
He has been named by German media as Taleb A, with his surname being withheld in line with privacy laws, although the name has not been confirmed by German authorities.
Read more:
What we know about attack so far
Magdeburg in shock as it tries to make sense of the senseless
The suspect is a Saudi citizen who worked as a doctor and arrived in Germany in 2006, premier of Saxony-Anhalt state Reiner Haseloff said.
He is being investigated for five counts of suspected murder and 205 counts of suspected attempted murder, prosecutor Horst Walter Nopens said.
A memorial service was held for the victims in the city’s cathedral on Saturday evening, with Chancellor Olaf Scholz, interior minister Nancy Faeser and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in attendance.
The cathedral bells tolling at 7.04pm local time (6.04pm UK time), exactly 24 hours after the attack.
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Memorial service held for Magdeburg attack victims
In a post on X, Mr Scholz described it as a “moving moment of compassion and solidarity for a deeply affected city”.
“The whole of Germany stands in these dark hours with the people of Magdeburg,” he wrote.
Residents in Magdeburg told Sky’s Europe correspondent Siobhan Robbins they are “shocked” and “traumatised” by the attack.
One woman said she “can’t find words to describe how traumatised we are”.
“We need a lot of time to process what happened,” she said.