My little bear flies around the world again, the grieving mother of nine-year-old André, the youngest victim from Magdeburg

“Let my little bear fly around the world again… André didn’t do anything to anyone. He was with us on Earth for only nine years,” wrote Mrs. Désirée Gleissnerová on Facebook.

“Why you… I don’t understand. You are now in heaven with Grandma and Grandpa who missed you so much. We miss you just like now,” the grieving mother continued. “You will stay in our hearts forever, I promise,” she added.

News of André’s tragic death spread quickly even in his native village of Floss in Bavaria, just a few kilometers from the Czech border. Until a few months ago, he went to school there and was a minister in the church.

After that, Mrs. Désirée moved to her partner in Lower Saxony, where André, the youngest of his mother’s five children, joined the activities of the children’s fire brigade in the village of Warle. From there, the family went to the Christmas market in Magdeburg, 70 kilometers away, on the fateful Friday.

The mayor of the Bavarian Floss, Roland Lindner, knew André well, a bright dark-haired boy with brown eyes. “Magdeburk is far from us, but in such events you realize how close you are when the extremists think they have to take revenge,” the mayor told Bild newspaper, whose village with 3,500 thousand inhabitants is in a depressed mood.

Warla fire chief Andreas Kliebisch confirmed to Focus magazine that André’s family has been living in the village for a year. “He comes from Bavaria. They completely fit in with us, children and parents got involved in the work of our associations,” said Kliebisch.

“André was a very open boy, willing, very well behaved. He was in our children’s fire department for about half a year,” said the fire chief. “That night they drove home completely devastated. It is a terrible blow of fate,” he added.

Together with André, four women aged 45, 52, 67 and 75 died in the attack in Magdeburg, and more than 200 other people were injured. In roughly 40 cases, the injuries are very severe, and the condition of some patients remains critical, according to doctors.

The attacker was a 50-year-old doctor originally from Saudi Arabia. He lived in Germany since 2006 and worked as a psychiatrist at a clinic in Bernburg, Saxony-Anhalt, where he was in charge of drug-addicted convicts.

According to the investigators, he himself was under the influence of narcotics when he committed the crime. The police caught her shortly after the crime. The man is now in custody.