False and unverified images link Leipzig attack suspect to Antifa and AfD

Published on 08/05/2026 - 15:31 GMT+2

A slew of mendacious and unverified images person dispersed online aft a deadly car onslaught successful Leipzig, with respective suggesting that the fishy was linked to the left-wing anti-fascist Antifa question and Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

The perpetrator, named successful German media arsenic Jeffrey K, drove a car into a crowd, sidesplitting 2 radical and earnestly injuring respective others.

In the aftermath of the attack, 1 wide shared representation claims the fishy was wearing a T-shirt with the logo "Antifa International".

The Cube, Euronews' fact-checking team, was not capable to independently verify wherever the archetypal representation was taken oregon its online origin.

German fact-checkers traced 1 of its earliest uploads to an relationship that posted what appeared to beryllium a genuine photograph of the fishy wearing a greenish garment alongside the representation of him wearing the "Antifa International" shirt.

When asked, the account's uploader said helium had recovered the image connected a niche website "Pr0gramm" — though searches of the website amusement nary grounds of the image.

The screenshot of the representation shows an relationship that posted the photograph was located successful California, and taken from a template utilized to exemplify an Instagram display, suggesting that the representation could beryllium doctored.

Another relationship that amplified the representation aboriginal clarified that it was fake, contempt Grok, an AI chatbot developed by Elon Musk's xAI, primitively deeming it authentic.

At the aforesaid time, a doctored photograph of the aforesaid representation showing the antheral wearing a T-shirt with the logo of the AfD enactment dispersed online. Analysis of this representation against the different 1 intelligibly shows it has been digitally manipulated.

Some of the posts sharing the representation of the alleged fishy wearing the AfD garment did truthful to amusement grounds of however easy a photograph could beryllium altered. However, respective posts, immoderate with thousands of views, held captions alleging the fishy was an AfD elector based connected the manipulated image.

Despite these mendacious images linking the alleged perpetrator to some Antifa and the AfD, authorities accidental determination is presently nary grounds to suggest the perpetrator had a governmental oregon spiritual motive.

Only constricted accusation connected the fishy has been released, with authorities confirming that helium is simply a 33-year-old man, a nonmigratory of Leipzig and calved successful Germany.

They added helium had travel to the attraction of authorities antecedently for "threats and defamatory offences successful his societal circle" and was admitted and treated successful a psychiatric hospital.

In the aftermath of the incident, respective videos circulating connected TikTok and X claimed to amusement thousands of radical gathering successful enactment of caller elections and the AfD pursuing the attack.

These videos dispersed connected TikTok and X, with 1 garnering tens of thousands of views.

But this footage is not existent and unrelated to the incident. A reverse representation hunt shows it is from a protestation successful February 2025 successful Nuremberg.

At the time, astatine slightest 20,000 demonstrated for ideology successful the city's Kornmarkt square, according to German quality bureau DPA.