
What We Know About the Munich Car Attack
What happened during the attack?
At around 10:30 a.m. Thursday, officers in a police cruiser at the tail end of a union march in central Munich noticed a two-door Mini Cooper coming up from behind. The car sped up to pass the cruiser and plowed into the back of the marchers. Witnesses said they heard the Mini rev up as it drove into the crowd. The police fired a single shot as they went to arrest the driver.
Ambulances and a helicopter arrived at the scene. Police set up a temporary post in a nearby restaurant, where they asked witnesses to come forward, and set up an online portal for uploading any video or pictures of the attack. Officers also used dogs to search the car.
By evening the damaged car was lifted onto a flatbed tow truck and impounded.
Who were the victims?
On Friday, the police said that 36 people had been injured, including several children. A 12-year old girl, who was severely inquired, was still in intensive care.
The car plowed into a crowd of union members and supporters and their families. Verdi, one of the biggest unions in Germany, had called a one-day strike for some public sector workers, including those employed in day care, garbage collection and city administration.
The roughly 1,500 marchers were being accompanied by police officers as they walked down a public street.
What do we know about the suspect?
The man came to Germany as an unaccompanied minor in 2016, according to the authorities. During his application for asylum, he said that his father had been murdered in Afghanistan and that the killers were looking for him. The authorities did not believe his testimony at the time and did not give him official asylum status. In a standard bureaucratic turn, the city of Munich gave the man a temporary residence permit in 2021, which allowed him access to education opportunities and to work. The man, whom the authorities have named as Farhad N., in keeping with strict privacy guidelines, attended school and eventually started working in retail security for two private firms.
Unlike other suspects in similar seemingly random attacks, Mr. N. appeared to be largely integrated into German society and was not known to the authorities for violence or crimes. He held a job and rented an apartment in Munich. He was a bodybuilder and had a relatively large following on Instagram and TikTok, where he presented himself as a fitness model, Munich's public attorney's office said on Friday.
The office was investigating him on the suspicion of 36 counts of both attempted homicide and of causing dangerous bodily harm. After the driver confessed to the attack, the authorities said they believed he had religious motives and an 'Islamist orientation.'
Investigators said they found a message on his cellphone in which he had said goodbye to a loved one, saying 'I might not be around tomorrow.'
However, investigators, still combing through his digital devices, said they had not found a connection with the Islamic State or other terrorist organizations.
Why is this attack rattling Germany?
This is at least the fifth major random attack by a Middle Eastern or Afghan migrant in the last nine months. In late May, an Afghan migrant killed a police officer and wounded several participants in a far-right demonstration in Mannheim. In August, a Syrian refugee killed three and injured eight in a stabbing spree in Solingen. In December, a man from Saudi Arabia used an S.U.V. to kill six people and injure 300 by driving into a Christmas market in Magdeburg. Last month, an Afghan refugee with an apparent mental illness used a kitchen knife to kill a toddler and a man who had rushed in to help in a city park in a small town in Bavaria.
These attacks have helped increase the popularity of the far-right Alternative for Germany party, known as the AfD, which has made limiting migration one of its key planks. Last month, Friedrich Merz, who leads the conservative Christian Democrats and is expected to be Germany's next chancellor, broke a taboo by voting in Parliament with the AfD on migration measures. While he was criticized by hundred thousands of protesters who took to the streets soon after, his vote showed how much the issue of limiting immigration has become mainstream, even though the number of those seeking asylum has been dropping.
The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said on Thursday that the attacker should be punished and sent back to Afghanistan.

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USA Today
7 hours ago
- USA Today
Jeffrey Epstein lawyer Roy Black dies in Florida at age 80, firm says
Florida lawyer Roy Black, widely known for representing several high-profile clients including William Kennedy Smith in his 1991 nationally publicized rape trial as well as Jeffrey Epstein, has died at age 80, his law firm confirmed. The renowned defense attorney died on July 21 at his home in Coral Gables, located around 5 miles west of Miami, according to the Black Srebnick firm. 'Roy Black is widely recognized as one of the greatest criminal defense attorneys in American legal history,' the law firm said in a statement shared with USA TODAY. The firm applauded Smith for his decades-long career and 'reputation for relentless preparation, courtroom mastery, and unwavering ethical standards.' The New York native has represented celebrities ranging from Justin Bieber to race car driver Helio Castroneves, but is arguably best known for securing the acquittal of Kennedy Smith, a former physician and nephew of the late President John F. Kennedy. Smith was implicated but not charged in the sexual assault of a Florida woman in Palm Beach. The case received national attention largely due to its live television coverage. 'Roy's absence will be deeply felt throughout the legal community, but his legacy — defined by fairness, diligence, compassion, and winning spirit — will continue to shine through the countless lives he impacted,' the firm added. He is survived by his wife and 'Real Housewives of Miami' alum Lea Black, with whom he shared their son RJ, as well as his daughter Nora, from a previous marriage. In 1994, he married Black, who had previously served as a juror in the Kennedy Smith case. 'Thank you for all the blessings,' Lea Black wrote on an Instagram post. 'We will be announcing details for a tribute and celebration of life in a few weeks.' Who is Roy Black? Black was a prominent Florida defense attorney known for several high-profile clients, including Epstein and Kennedy Smith. He is also widely recognized as a legal analyst appearing on television to offer his insights. He was born in 1945 in New York but raised in both Connecticut and the Caribbean, according to Black Srebnick. As an adjunct professor, Black taught criminal evidence courses at his alma mater, the University of Miami School of Law, as early as 1973. He is the published author of the 1999 book 'Black's Law: A Criminal Lawyer Reveals His Defense Strategies in Four Cliffhanger Cases.' 'For more than 30 years, Roy was my teacher, mentor and friend. Roy was the greatest criminal lawyer of our generation, perhaps in American history, achieving acquittals over a span of 50 years in some of the most challenging and notorious cases of all time,' Black's friend and law partner Howard Srebnick said in a statement. When did Black represent Epstein? Black was among the team of attorneys who handled the infamous Epstein case when the prominent financier was accused of sexually abusing children for more than a decade, the Associated Press reported. While Epstein never sat for trial, he pleaded guilty to the solicitation of prostitution and solicitation of a minor for prostitution in Florida in 2008. Following Epstein's 2019 death in a New York jail cell, Black aimed to prevent his victims from reopening a non-prosecution agreement that allowed Epstein to plead guilty to a lesser state charge, according to AP. Who else has Black represented? Black has represented several other high-profile clients, including the following: Contributing: Kinsey Crowley and Holly Baltz, USA TODAY NETWORK

Politico
7 hours ago
- Politico
Tucker Carlson's view of the Epstein saga
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He also expounded on Epstein — while the interview took place almost a week ago, many of Carlson's answers illuminate the forces that have given the controversy such staying power. Below is an excerpt from their discussion, edited for POLITICO Nightly. The German version of the interview can be found here. Ronzheimer: I want to talk about the Epstein case. Carlson: I didn't know him, thank heaven. So what is going on inside the MAGA movement right now? Oh boy, I have no idea. What we do know is there was this guy who got indicted twice, convicted once, of sex crimes, and he was a sex weirdo. Lots of those. I worked in television. I know quite a few. So we know that. What we don't know is what was he doing and how did he get hundreds of millions of dollars? He didn't apparently execute any trades on Wall Street. He was not a trader. Didn't work on Wall Street. So where did the money come from? And what was the point of this? He had heads of state and ... high-level political leaders in his house all the time and there was sex involved and there are a lot of allegations which may or may not be true. I can't assess what he was doing and why and we don't have answers on that. But I think we know enough that people are insistent on getting answers. And then there's a question of: How did he die? It's pretty clear he did not kill himself, sorry. Do you think Trump is nervous about it? I don't know, I can't say. But I can say that normal people, non-crazy people, have a great desire to know these answers, and I think have an expectation that they're due these answers. It's their right to know. Their government was involved. And I also think bigger than that — and this is something that maybe not everyone at the White House understands, though I think they will — it's a metaphor. It represents something bigger than it is. I personally don't think the fate of nations rises or falls on the questions of Jeffrey Epstein. I just don't. Okay? But I do think the fate of nations rises and falls on the question of who's really in charge, who's making these decisions and why. So there is a widespread belief in the United States and it's true, it's rooted in reality, that a lot of [what we hear from the government] is fake. It's an illusion. Why can't we know? In our system, the people rule. We have a representative democracy in which we elect people to work on our behalf. They work for us. We own this country. We're shareholders. We're not just passing through, we're not renting it, we own it. That's the American system. And so if you can't get a straight answer from your government about what the government's doing, and there's clearly no national security implications — some pedophile, how is that a national security question? It's not. Then you start to wonder, what the hell is this? Who's running it? Donald Trump ran for president on the promise that he would tell us, and that he'd end corruption in Washington. Now, that's a big promise. Every large organization is corrupt by its nature. D.C. is the largest organization, therefore it's the most corrupt. That's just a fact. Can one man fix that? No. But you have to make a good faith effort. And so people understood that when Trump got there and they voted for him for this reason, that they would learn what their government was doing. Not just about Epstein, and not just about JFK or RFK or MLK or the historic murders that are still unsolved, but about like, where does all the money go? Why is the Pentagon getting a trillion dollars? Where does that money go exactly? So, are Trump supporters disappointed? I don't know, Trump, look, I think my impression is that — I'm trying to be diplomatic here. I can feel that. With Trump, you're diplomatic, with other topics, not so much. Yeah, that's true, because I know Trump. I know him well enough to know that and have known him for so long and I've talked to him so much that I know that he agrees fundamentally with the idea that the system is corrupt and the way that it continues to be corrupt is through secrecy. And that you have to air this stuff. You have to tell people what's going on and take the hit, and that's okay. You know, we all screw up. There are things about me I seek to hide. I love pizza, or whatever. That's okay, but you have to be honest at a certain point, or it doesn't get better. That's just kind of a basic human principle, and I know that Trump agrees with that. I don't mean to be cagey. I don't really understand what the hell is going on, if I'm being honest, I really don't. And I haven't talked to him about it. I haven't called over there and asked, 'what the hell's going on?' By the way, I don't think Trump had anything to do with Epstein, he knew Epstein. But I would be sincerely shocked if there was some weird sex stuff with Trump. I just don't believe that. I've talked to Trump about it, I know him well. What did he say? I think he said this publicly. He said Epstein was always in Mar-a-Lago freeloading and hitting on the massage therapist and he kicked him out. Does that sound realistic to you? It does. Whatever Trump's sins, I have never gotten a creepy vibe off him at all. And you ask any woman who's been around him — because women know, they get the creepy vibe way better than men do, or at least than I do. And I've asked a number of women, do you get a creepy vibe off of him? You could smell it if someone's got weird sex shit going on underneath the surface. I've never gotten that vibe off Trump at all. And every woman I've ever asked didn't get that at all [Ed note: over 25 women have accused Trump of sexual misconduct.]. So I could be completely wrong, but I would be shocked. And by the way, this information, if it exists, would have been in the hands of the Biden administration during the last presidential campaign. You think they wouldn't have leaked it? Again, I could have been wrong, but I just don't believe it. And so what is this [situation with Epstein]? I don't really know. You do get in a vacuum when you're at the top of whatever pyramid, and I don't think they fully understand how this is being read on the outside. We're a few days into this, get back to me in a month and I'll have a better sense. We will all have a sense of what this is, but I think it's a big deal. Not because of Epstein, but because of what he represents. Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@ Or contact tonight's author at cmchugh@ or on X (formerly know as Twitter) at @calder_mchugh. 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Miami Herald
8 hours ago
- Miami Herald
Former U.S. marine freed in Venezuela-U.S. prisoner swap was convicted of triple murder
One of the 10 American citizens or residents freed by the government of Nicolás Maduro in a recent high-profile prisoner exchange with the United States was a fugitive convicted of a triple murder in Spain, according to reports by Venezuelan and Spanish media outlets. Dahud Hanid Ortiz, 54, a former U.S. Marine born in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, was convicted of killing three people in Madrid in 2016. He was sentenced by a Venezuelan court to 30 years in prison on July 22, according to court documents and statements by the victims' families. Ortiz, who holds U.S. and German citizenship, was among those repatriated to the United States on July 18 as part of a prisoner swap. The deal involved the release of 252 Venezuelan nationals who had been held in a maximum-security prison in El Salvador, many of them accused by U.S. officials of allegedly being criminals or part of the feared Tren de Aragua gang. Ortiz is currently believed to be in Texas, where he landed after his release. As of press time, the U.S. State Department had not provided information about his legal status, or whether he remains in custody. A former combat veteran, Ortiz served in Iraq and South Korea and was awarded the Purple Heart. However, he was dishonorably discharged from the U.S. Army after being found guilty of falsifying documents related to his residence and military record. After being discharged from the marines, his personal life unraveled. His relationship with a German doctor, Irina Trippel, crumbled, and when she began a new love life with Peruvian lawyer, Víctor Yoel Salas Cobeñas, the former Marine reacted with obsessive fury. On June 22, 2016, Ortiz executed a meticulous and bloody plan in Madrid, according to court documents. He showed up at the lawyer's office and, mistaking an Ecuadorian client for his romantic rival, murdered him. He then attacked and killed two women who worked in the office: Maritza Osorio Riverón, a secretary, and Elisa Consuegra Gálvez, a lawyer and Salas's partner. Before fleeing, he set fire to the office and left a fake business card with the logo of a supposed Mexican cartel, attempting to mislead the investigation. Following the attack, Ortiz fled Spain. An international arrest warrant was issued, and he was eventually detained in 2018 by Venezuelan authorities during a routine security operation in the state of Bolívar. For years, Ortiz was held in the Caracas headquarters of Venezuela's Military Counterintelligence Directorate, initially under suspicion of espionage. In December 2021, Venezuelan and international media revealed Ortiz's identity and the charges against him. According to media reports, he had been using false identities and speaking multiple languages while detained, including Spanish, English, German and Russian. He was tried and sentenced in Venezuela rather than in Spain for the crimes committed in Madrid because the Venezuelan Constitution prohibits the extradition of Venezuelan-born citizens, but the country's laws allows Venezuelan citizens to be prosecuted for crimes committed abroad. Ortiz was sentenced in January 2024 to 30 years in prison, the maximum sentence provided for in Venezuelan law, on charges of homicide and arson. On June 1 of this year, Ortiz was removed from his cell and taken to a separate location where he recorded video messages addressed to U.S. officials, claiming to be in poor health and without access to food or medicine. Sources familiar with the situation said he was instructed to follow a prepared script. The decision to include Ortiz in the prisoner exchange has drawn criticism from relatives of the victims. Salas, the Madrid-based attorney whose law office was the site of the attack, spoke publicly after receiving confirmation of Ortiz's sentence. 'We all feel deceived, betrayed and defrauded,' Salas said during an interview with the Spanish television program Vamos a Ver. 'Dahud Hanid Ortiz was never a political prisoner. He was a convicted and sentenced murderer. The court documents make that absolutely clear.' Salas also questioned the involvement of former Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, who reportedly played a mediating role in the negotiation between Venezuela and the United States. He urged all parties involved to take steps to acknowledge and rectify what he described as a miscarriage of justice.