Car strikes pedestrians in Munich ahead of Vance arrival

An Afghanistan national plowed a car into a crowd of striking union workers in Munich, Germany, a day ahead of Vice President Vance’s arrival there for a security conference, according to local officials. 

The suspect was a 24-year-old man who drove the car into a Thursday gathering of demonstrators, injuring at least 28 people, some seriously, the Munich police said Thursday morning. 

Law enforcement said they fired at the suspect who was arrested at the scene. 

The suspect appears to have driven a Mini whose windshield and headlight were destroyed, according to the photos from the scene. 

The man in question was known to law enforcement related to the drug and theft offenses, Bavaria’s state interior minister Joachim Herrmann said, The Associated Press (AP) reported. Herrmann also stated the officials think the demonstration was a random target. 

Bavarian governor Markus Soeder said the incident "is suspected to be an attack - a lot points to that,” Sky News reported. 

Vance is set to address the annual Munich Security Conference on Friday. Alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Vance will also discuss talks to end the Ukraine-Russia war with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky.

It is Vance's first international trip as vice president. Vance and his wife Usha Vance are visiting the Dachau concentration camp memorial on Thursday. 

In December last year, a Saudi doctor who was a resident of Germany, rammed a car through a Christmas market in Magdeburg, killing five people, including one young boy, in an incident that injured more than 200.