BERLIN (AP) — A Saudi doctor went on trial on murder charges Monday over the car-ramming attack on a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg last year that left six people dead.
The 51-year-old suspect, Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, was brought by helicopter to a temporary courtroom in the eastern city specially set up for the trial, and sat behind a bulletproof glass screen.
Five women and a boy died, and many more people were wounded, in the Dec. 20 attack that lasted just over a minute. The defendant is charged with six counts of murder and 338 of attempted murder in the trial at the Magdeburg state court, for which sessions have been scheduled until March. He could face a life prison sentence if convicted.
Prosecutor Matthias Böttcher told the court that al-Abdulmohsen had acted out of “supposed personal frustration" and aimed to hit as many people as possible in order to gain “the attention he wanted,” German news agency dpa reported.
There are no formal pleas in the German legal system. But the defendant told the court: “I am the one who drove the car.”
He didn't immediately give further details or offer any apology, dpa reported. Instead, he talked about alleged police cover-ups and criticized the media, and the presiding judge admonished him to address the matter at hand.
Investigators have said that the attack was carried out with a rented BMW X3, which reached speeds of up to 48 kph (30 mph) during the rampage. They said when they filed the indictment that he wasn't under the influence of alcohol and apparently acted out of dissatisfaction with the outcome of a legal dispute and the failure of various criminal complaints. They also have said that he planned the attack without accomplices.
Officials have said the suspect doesn’t fit the usual profile of perpetrators of extremist attacks. The man described himself as an ex-Muslim who was highly critical of Islam and on social media expressed support for the far-right. He had previously come to authorities’ attention for threatening behavior but wasn’t known to have committed any violence.
The Magdeburg car-ramming was one of a series of attacks involving immigrants that pushed migration to the forefront of the campaign for Germany’s national election in February. The defendant arrived in Germany in 2006 and had received permanent residency.
The defendant Taleb al-Abdulmohsen, center, and his lawyer Thomas Breiter talk at the start of the trial in Magdeburg, Germany, Monday Nov. 10, 2025. (Jan Woitas/dpa via AP)
Defendant Taleb al-Abdulmohsen sits in a bullet-proof glass box in the courtroom in the temporary court building at Magdeburg District Court at the start of the trial, Monday Nov. 10, 2025. (Jan Woitas/dpa via AP)
The risk of a catastrophic explosion at a damaged chemical tank in Southern California has been eliminated following a close overnight inspection that confirmed a crack in the tank relieved pressure and cooled the chemical, authorities said Monday.
Officials said crews conducted tank temperature checks at night to reduce risks to firefighters, avoiding daytime operations when heat from the tank made conditions around it most dangerous. The overnight mission allowed crews to verify the crack and confirm temperatures were falling, Orange County Fire Authority division chief Craig Covey said Monday morning.
Covey said the results of overnight evaluation of the tank — that the temperature inside had dropped and that pressure had been released — was “incredibly positive news.”
However, evacuation orders remained in place for about 50,000 people in Garden Grove, California, located south of Los Angeles.
Covey said falling temperatures and the release of pressure from the tank were allowing officials to “turn the corner on this incident” after days of concern about a possible explosion.
There has been no chemical leak as of early Monday, but the Orange County Fire Authority said the risk to public safety is “ongoing.”'
After the tank overheated Thursday and began venting vapors, firefighters have repeatedly sprayed the tank with water in an attempt to cool the chemical inside, methyl methacrylate, which is used to make plastic parts.
The tank's interior reached 100 degrees (37.7 Celsius) Sunday, an increase of 10 degrees Fahrenheit (5.5 Celsius) since Saturday, according to Democratic state Sen. Tom Umberg. On Monday, Covey said the temperature fell to 93 degrees F (33.9 degrees C).
Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency Saturday and said he asked President Donald Trump to issue an emergency declaration to bolster federal support for local and state officials.
The tank at GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems, which makes parts for commercial and military aircraft, holds 6,000 to 7,000 gallons (22,700 to 26,500 liters) of methyl methacrylate used to make plastic parts.
The first goal of firefighters was to cool off the chemical inside the tank to prevent a leak or explosion.
Drones were monitoring temperatures at 10-minute intervals to watch for any spikes. Containment barriers were set up to prevent the chemical from getting into storm drains or reaching creeks or the nearby ocean in the event of a spill, Covey said earlier.
As the interior temperature rises, methyl methacrylate converts from a liquid to a gas and increases the pressure, according to Purdue University engineering professor Andrew Whelton, who had said earlier that the crack could mean product or pressure is being released, reducing the chance of explosion.
“Think of a soda can. If you leave it in a hot car it can explode,” Whelton said. “But if you put a hole in the can, the product is released and the can itself doesn’t explode.”
An explosion that could spread the chemical over a broad area and send shrapnel flying would be the worst-case scenario, he said.
Aerial photos taken by The Associated Press showed streets in the area were empty Sunday, while several evacuation shelters were open. At a high school in neighboring La Palma, people slept in cars or on mats and sleeping bags on the asphalt.
Garden Grove is next to Anaheim, home to Disneyland’s two theme parks, which were not under evacuation orders. Park officials said they were monitoring the situation.
Exposure to methyl methacrylate can cause serious respiratory problems, neurological problems and irritation to the skin, eyes and throat, according to fact sheets about the chemical.
Whelton said if an explosion occurs, it will be crucial to conduct detailed air monitoring specifically for methyl methacrylate and not just generic tests for volatile organic compounds as officials did after a 2023 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, which released more than 115,000 gallons (435,000 liters) of vinyl chloride after officials blew open five tank cars and burned the chemical.
Orange County health officials said the chemical is easy to smell and people may notice it over a large area without being harmed.
Some Garden Grove residents filed a class-action federal lawsuit Saturday against GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems, which operates the facility where the tank is located. Lawyers for the residents argued that regardless of what happens, property values in the surrounding community are sure to be impacted.
GKN Aerospace did not comment on the lawsuit but has apologized to residents and businesses forced to evacuate. It said Sunday it was “working around the clock to mitigate the risk of a leak.”
GKN Aerospace agreed in 2025 to pay state regulators more than $900,000 to settle violations involving recordkeeping, permitting issues and nitrogen oxide emissions, according to a report on the South Coast Air Quality Management District website.
Associated Press journalist Ethan Swope in Garden Grove, California, contributed to this report.
An evacuation map is displayed at the incident command post at the Los Alamitos Race Course in Cypress, Calif., on Sunday, May 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
Water is sprayed on a damaged tank at GKN Aerospace in Garden Grove, Calif., on Sunday, May 24, 2026, after the tank containing a chemical used to make plastic parts overheated Thursday. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
The streets remain empty in Garden Grove, Calif., on Sunday, May 24, 2026, after a storage tank containing a chemical used to make plastic parts overheated Thursday at an aerospace plastics facility. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
Emergency personnel work at the incident command post at the Los Alamitos Race Course Sunday, May 24, 2026, in Cypress, Calif. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
Water is sprayed on a damaged tank at GKN Aerospace in Garden Grove, Calif., on Sunday, May 24, 2026, after the tank containing a chemical used to make plastic parts overheated Thursday. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
