Italy leaders visit Modena after car-ramming attack injures eight

A car-ramming attack in central Modena left eight people injured and quickly pulled Italy’s highest political offices into a struggle over how the violence should be understood. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and President Sergio Mattarella visited the northern city on Sunday, turning a street assault into a national test of reassurance, security and public order.

The attack struck the main shopping street in Modena’s city center around 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, when the driver drove into pedestrians and then allegedly tried to flee. One passerby who moved to stop him was stabbed, and prosecutors later said the driving was “indiscriminate, random and deliberate.” The suspect, identified as Salim El Koudri, is 31 and was born in Italy of Moroccan origin. Modena prosecutors said he is being investigated for attempted massacre and personal injury.

Authorities moved quickly to rule out terrorism as a motive, and Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said the suspect was dealing with mental-health issues. That framing has helped define the case less as an organized political attack than as an episode of violent breakdown, even as officials still face questions about how the event unfolded in a crowded urban center. Meloni canceled a planned meeting in Cyprus to travel to Modena with Mattarella, underscoring how swiftly the assault altered the government’s agenda.

The human toll remained severe despite the absence of fatalities. Four of the eight injured were reported in critical condition, with two transferred to Bologna’s Maggiore Hospital and two treated in Modena. One seriously injured woman may face both legs being amputated, and later updates said two victims had already lost their legs while one person remained in life-threatening condition. The city of more than 180,000 residents was left confronting the impact of an attack that landed in one of its busiest public spaces.

Mayor Massimo Mezzetti said the suspect had been treated in mental-health services in 2022 for problems linked to schizophrenia, had no previous convictions and was not known to police. That detail has sharpened the debate over whether the episode should be read primarily as a criminal act, a security failure or a politically useful symbol. In the evening, hundreds gathered at the mayor’s call to “unite against those who want to divide and sow hatred,” after some far-right politicians tried to link the incident to immigration. For now, the leaders’ visit has become part of the story itself, signaling state concern while the facts of motive and responsibility continue to be weighed.