Berlin truck attack suspect killed in Milan police shootout
Italy's interior minister said that the Tunisian man suspected of driving a truck into a crowded Christmas market in Berlin was killed early Friday in a shootout with police in Milan, The Associated Press reported.
Checks conducted after the shootout showed "the person killed, without a shadow of a doubt," is Anis Amri, Interior Minister Marco Minniti said during a news conference.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the Monday attack in Berlin, which killed 12 and injured 56 others.
Amri, 24, who had spent time in prison in Italy, was stopped by two officers during a routine police check in the Sesto San Giovanni neighborhood of Milan early Friday, the AP reported. He pulled a gun from his backpack after being asked to show his identity papers and was killed in the ensuing shootout.
One of the two officers was shot by Amri and is in the hospital, but his condition is not life-threatening, Minniti said. The other officer fatally shot Amri, the AP reported.
"We can be relieved at the end of this week that one acute danger has been ended," Merkel said. "But the danger of terrorism as a whole remains, as it has for many years — we all know that."
The Associated Press reported that officials are working to determine how Amri got to the market since few busses were operating at the time of the attack.
Peter Frank, Germany's chief federal prosecutor leading the investigation said, "It is now of great significance for us to establish whether the suspect had a network of supporters or helpers in preparing and carrying out the crime, and in fleeing, whether there were accessories or helpers."
