[12] Minister of the interior and community Nancy Faeser said in November 2024 that there were no "concrete" threats to Christmas markets,[13][14] but that it was wise to maintain vigilance.

[15] At 19:04 CET on 20 December 2024, a black BMW rental car,[12] reportedly rented shortly before the attack,[15] was driven into a crowd at high speed at a Christmas market in Magdeburg.

He also described himself as a former Muslim and criticized German authorities for failing to combat the "Islamism of Europe" and supported the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

"[32][6] Abdulmohsen appeared on the BBC News in 2019, showcasing his website intended to help asylum-seeking apostates, "especially from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region".

[41][42] In a 2019 interview with The Jerusalem Post, he stated that he spent 10 to 16 hours per day assisting apostates from the Middle East to claim asylum in Western countries.

[45][43] On Twitter, Abdulmohsen posted a machine gun with a US flag as a profile picture and conspiracy theories such as "Germany wants to Islamize Europe.

"[49] In another video before the attack, Abdulmohsen said, "Another reason why I hold German citizens responsible for the persecution I experience in Germany is the story of a USB stick stolen from my mailbox.

"[50] According to information from several public broadcasters and private media in Germany, people reported Abdulmohsen to the police several times because of threats of violence.

According to public broadcaster ARD, Abdulmohsen was sentenced in 2013 by the Rostock District Court to 90 daily rates of ten euros each for threatening criminal offenses.

[58] The Deutsche Fußball Liga (DFL) called on all sides of the top two divisions of German football to wear black armbands in memory of the victims and have minutes of silence in several Bundesliga games.

[28] Publications such as Politico and The Wall Street Journal wrote that the attack could reinvigorate discussions of immigration in Germany ahead of the federal election in 2025.

Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier was accused of saying a quote: "one should not expose the person who committed the crime ... but listen to the reasons calmly and patiently"; Tagesschau said it was later established that he never said it.

They also said Turkish nationalists claimed that Kurdish militias carried out the attack in retaliation for Germany's alleged support for Turkey in the Syrian civil war.

Protesters carried signs calling for remigration and shouted slogans such as "Wir sind das Volk" (German: "We are the People").

The federal prosecutors would take up the case if the killings were deemed to be acts of terrorism caused by an attacker motivated by political or religious convictions.

[62][75] The suspect's potential motivations are being investigated by police, including whether or not they were influenced by discontent with Germany's treatment of Saudi refugees, according to Horst Walter Nopens, head of the local public prosecutor's office.

[79] The organizers had left an escape route for emergency service vehicles open, through which the perpetrator drove past all the blockades into the market.

In some points, the concept seemed "almost bizarrely unprofessional" and neglected the risk of attacks, including in the qualification and assessment of the security personnel deployed.

[84] Many political figures in Germany expressed their condolences following the attack, including Saxony-Anhalt Minister-President Reiner Haseloff,[12] Chancellor Olaf Scholz,[12][85] President Frank-Walter Steinmeier,[86][16] and party leaders Friedrich Merz, of CDU,[87] and Alice Weidel, of AfD.

[89] A month after the attack, the Landtag of Saxony-Anhalt unanimously voted to install a commission of inquiry, which was expected to commence work in February 2025 and consist of 13 individuals.

[91] The AfD's parliamentary leader, Bernd Baumann, demanded that Chancellor Scholz call a special session in the Bundestag on what he described as a "desolate" security situation.

[92] Sahra Wagenknecht, the leader of the BSW party, said that Nancy Faeser, the interior minister, needed to formally explain "why so many tips and warnings were ignored beforehand".

It also distanced itself from Abdulmohsen "in the strongest terms" and added that its members filed a criminal complaint against him following "the most foul slander and verbal attacks" in 2019.

[93] Condolences were expressed by the leaders of Denmark,[94] the United Kingdom,[95] France,[96] Italy,[97] Hungary,[98] Spain,[99] Turkey,[100] Iran,[101] Poland,[102] the Netherlands,[103] and India,[104] as well as by the Secretary-General of NATO, Mark Rutte.

[58][106] Viktor Orbán, the prime minister of Hungary, vowed to "fight back" against open border policies after stating that there is a connection behind immigration to western Europe and terrorist attacks.