Berlin crash – latest: Teacher killed after car ploughs into Kurfuerstendamm crowd

Berlin officials have confirmed a teacher was killed after a car drove into pedestrians in a central shopping district in the German capital.

Police spokesman Martin Dams said the suspected driver of the vehicle, a 29-year-old man of dual German-Armenian citizenship, was detained by pedestrians before he was arrested by police in the incident that left at least a dozen people injured.

Posters “expressing views about Turkey” - which has troubled relations with Armenia - were found in the car that drove in the crowd, Berlin’s top security official Iris Spranger said. However, an interior ministry spokesperson said “it is too early to speculate about the background (of the incident).”

Germany’s Bild news cited an investigator saying: “This was by no means an accident - someone on the rampage, an ice-cold killer” in addition to reports that the driver of the Renault Clio car was known to police.

American actor John Barrowman was caught up in the incident he described as “horrific.”

Key Points

• One dead and 30 injured after driver ploughs into crown on Kurfuerstendamm shopping boulevard

• Placard relating to Turkey found in car that drove into Kurfuerstendamm crowd

• Actor John Barrowman caught in ‘horrific’ incident

• Five people with ‘life threatening’ injuries, fire services say

• Suspected driver detained by pedestrians before arrest

‘Get by a tree’ John Barrowman told as Berlin crash unfolded

17:00 , Thomas Kingsley

Actor John Barrowman recalled the moment a witness told him to get by a tree as the Berlin crash unfolded.

Berlin crime scene expanded, police say

16:20 , Thomas Kingsley

The crime scene near Kurfuerstendamm shopping boulevard where a driver ploughed into pedestrians has been expanded, Berlin police has said.

“For further crime scene work, especially to the vehicle, the emergency services have temporarily expanded the restricted area,” Berlin police wrote Twitter.

The force added that parts of the Berlin subway were suspended and parts of the Europa-center shopping complex were cleared.

ICYMI: John Barrowman shares video from scene of Berlin crash

16:00 , Thomas Kingsley

Placards ‘relating to Turkey’ discovered in the car that drove into crowd in Berlin

15:37 , Thomas Kingsley

Placards relating to Turkey were discovered in the car of a man who allegedly drove his car into a group of school children in central Berlin on Wednesday, killing their teacher, a local politician said.

The alleged driver is a 29-year-old German-Armenian man of dual citizenship.

Armenia and Turkey have historically hostile relations and the two nations which share a border currently have no diplomatic ties. In 1993, when Turkey backed Azerbaijan in its majority Muslim ally's first war with Armenia over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Turkey-Armenia border remained sealed ever since, badly hurting trade, which has been largely limited to occasional charter flights

“There are said to have been placards inside but there was no letter of confession,” said the city's state interior minister, Iris Spranger, refuting an earlier media report from Germany’s Bild daily.

German football star pays tribute to Berlin victims

15:24 , Thomas Kingsley

German national team star Jerome Boateng paid tribute to the victims of the Berlin crash.

Writing a post on Twitter, the Lyon defender and Berlin native said: “My thoughts are with the victims and their families affected by that terrible act in my home town Berlin today.

Confession letter found in car that drove into Kurfuerstendamm crowd

15:02 , Thomas Kingsley

A letter of confession was found in the car that drove into a crowd of people on a Berlin shopping street, killing one person, the Bild daily reported on Wednesday.

Bild cited an investigator as saying: "(This was) by no means an accident - someone on the rampage, an ice-cold killer."

‘It’s too early to speculate’ cause of incident, interior ministry spokesperson says

14:54 , Thomas Kingsley

An interior ministry spokesperson said “it is too early to speculate” about what caused the incident this morning which left one dead and at least a dozen injured. Police have said it is not clear yet whether it was an accident or a deliberate act.

Berlin police has asked witnesses for footage of the incident and appealed to the public not to upload videos to social media.

According to reports from Bild, a the victim of the crash was a teacher.

The car was going ‘at full throttle,’ witnesses say

14:49 , Thomas Kingsley

According to witnesses of the incident this morning, the car was driving “at full throttle” and the driver made no attempt to slow down.

Police are still investigating whether the incident was accidental or an intentional attack. Pictures from the scene showed blankets covering what appeared to be a body in a cordoned-off area guarded by police.

Pedestrians detained suspected driver before arrest

14:25 , Thomas Kingsley

The suspected driver was apparently detained by passers-by before being arrested swiftly by a police officer who was near the scene, Thilo Cablitz said. Police are still trying to establish whether the 29-year-old German-Armenian man deliberately drove into pedestrians or whether it was an accident, possibly caused by a medical emergency.

Mr Cablitz said he didn't have more information on the man, who was driving a small car, or on what if anything he has told police so far.

Large numbers of rescue vehicles and first responders were at the scene.

Berlin Mayor Franziska Giffey tweeted that she was "deeply shocked by this incident."

No new updates on injuries - Berlin Police

14:19 , Thomas Kingsley

Berlin police said it is not yet releasing further details of injuries until relatives have been informed.

Writing on Twitter, the force said: “Please understand that we do not disclose information about the injured before the relatives are informed.

“Psychosocial care is available on site for those affected and also for our emergency services.”

ICYMI: One dead and dozens injured after car ploughs into pedestrians in Berlin

14:00 , Thomas Kingsley

If you’re just joining our live blog, we’re bringing the latest updates from Berlin where one person was killed and dozens injured this morning when a car drove into pedestrians in the German capital.

The incident happened near the popular Kurfuerstendamm shopping boulevard in the west of the German capital and more than 130 emergency personnel were on the scene, said officials.

Five of those injured have life-threatening injuries, officials said.

Read the full story below:

One dead and 30 injured after car ploughs into pedestrians in Berlin

Police launch emergency line for relatives

13:30 , Thomas Kingsley

Berlin police has opened a phone line for relative to contact family members affected by the crash this morning after one person was killed and dozens injured after a silver Renault crashed into a crowd on a busy shopping boulevard.

Police ask witnesses to submit footage of the incident

13:05 , Thomas Kingsley

Berlin police has asked witnesses to send in footage of the crash and has asked the public not to distribute footage of the incident online.

Officers announced that they had detained a 29-year-old man of dual German-Armenian citizenship who is suspected to be the driver of the car. Police are still investigating whether the crash was intentional.

BREAKING: Driver is 29-year-old German-Armenian man with dual citizenship

12:50 , Thomas Kingsley

The driver of the car that hit a crowd of pedestrians near the popular Kurfuerstendamm shopping boulevard is a 29-year-old German-Armenian man with dual citizenship, Berlin police has told Sky News.

Berlin mayor ‘deeply shocked’ by incident

12:38 , Thomas Kingsley

Berlin mayor Franziska Giffey tweeted that she was “deeply shocked by this incident.”

“I am deeply affected by this incident. We know that there is one dead and several seriously injured. The police are working flat out to clarify the matter,” she said.

“I will get an idea of the situation on site during the course of the day. I would like to thank the more than 130 emergency services for their quick response and care for those affected.”

12:20 , Thomas Kingsley

Actor John Barrowman, who was at the scene with his husband Scott Gill, told Sky News he saw "a dead person in the middle of the road, covered up".

"The person came on the pavement by the Levi store and the bank, then drove onto the street, hit the person and killed them in the street, then came back onto the kerb, went down the kerb, through the cafe area and then into the storefront," he said.

"How horrible that this morning these people got up to just go through a regular day, they were going through their daily business. I mean we were shopping, but if you think if we'd have come out of that store one minute earlier..."

He said: "We are no experts but this looks intentional - by the way the car went on the pavement."

"There were chairs and tables smashed on the pavement - just a trail of destruction," said Mr Gill, a British architect.

Police investigating whether incident was ‘deliberate attack'

12:05 , Thomas Kingsley

Investigators are looking into whether the incident was a deliberate attack or possibly an accident with a medical cause, a police spokesperson said.

Police are investigating all possibilities, the spokesperson said, adding that the driver had received some medical treatment.

Blankets covered what appeared to be a body in a cordoned-off area guarded by police, Reuters images showed. A small, silver coloured Renault car was lodged inside a shop after smashing through a plate glass window.

Rescue workers moved apparently conscious people on stretchers towards an ambulance, including one woman sitting up, and another who covered her face with her hand.

Pictured: At the scene of the crash near Breitscheidplatz

11:55 , Thomas Kingsley

Watch: John Barrowman shares video from scene of incident

11:45 , Thomas Kingsley

What we know so far

11:33 , Thomas Kingsley

The man drove into people on a street corner at around 10:30am before getting the car back on the road and then crashing into a shop window around a block further on, police spokesman Thilo Cablitz said.

Fire service spokesman Stefan Salzwedel put the number of injured at eight. Police said more than a dozen were injured. Police said several of them were in serious condition.

The driver was apparently detained by passers-by before being arrested swiftly by a police officer who was near the scene, Mr Cablitz said. He said police are trying to determine whether he deliberately drove into pedestrians or whether it was an accident, possibly caused by a medical emergency.

He said he didn't have more information on the man, who was driving a small car, or on what if anything he has told police so far.

Large numbers of rescue vehicles and first responders were at the scene.

The incident happened at one end of the Kurfuerstendamm shopping boulevard and next to the Breitscheidplatz square.

Five people with ‘life threatening’ injuries, fire services say

11:31 , Thomas Kingsley

A spokesperson from the Berlin fire service says five people have life threatening injuries after the car crash into the crowd on Kurfuerstendamm shopping boulevard.

Actor John Barrowman caught in ‘horrific’ incident

11:29 , Thomas Kingsley

John Barrowman has revealed he witnessed the Berlin incident that has left one dead.

Around 30 people were left injured after a car drove into pedestrians in the capital of Germany near the popular Kurfuerstendamm shopping boulevard on Wednesday (8 June).

Doctor Who star Barrowman said that he heard the “bang and the crash”, telling his followers in a Twitter video: “We were in a store, and then we came out and saw all the carnage.”

“It’s really pretty bad, guys,” he said, revealing that he was sitting behind a tree at the advice of his friend “just in case anything else happens”. He later said he was returning to his hotel as “we kind of don’t want to be on the street”.

Read the full story below:

John Barrowman reveals he ‘heard’ Berlin incident that’s left one dead

One dead and 30 injured after car ploughs into pedestrians in Berlin

11:27 , Thomas Kingsley

One person was killed and several injured after a car drove into pedestrians in the German capital, Berlin.

A spokesperson for the German capital’s fire service told Reuters around 30 people were injured.

“A man is believed to have driven into a group of people. It is not yet known whether it was an accident or a deliberate act,” police said.

Mass-selling daily Bild said the man had been driving a small Renault car.

The incident took place near the scene of a 2016 fatal attack when Anis Amri, a failed Tunisian asylum seeker with Islamist links, hijacked a truck, killed the driver and then plowed it into a crowded western Berlin Christmas market, killing 11 people.

Read the full story here

Good morning

11:26 , Thomas Kingsley

Good morning, we will be bringing all the latest updates from Berlin where a car has ploughed into a crowd on Kurfuerstendamm shopping boulevard injuring 30 people and killing one.