Its glühwein stalls, festooned with Christmas lights and tinsel, stand emptied and shuttered.

On the cordoned off market street, in the center of Magdeburg, German police stand guard as, one officer told CNN, forensic teams carefully examine the crime scene before scrubbing the blood stains from the road.

The horrific car-ramming attack on this Christmas market on Friday night left at least five people dead, including a 9-year-old boy, plunging this provincial German city into shock.

At the entrance to the market, grieving locals have lit candles and laid flowers to pay their respects, many feeling a profound sense of loss.

“I’ve seen a lot of misery, many people who were searching. Many tears, bewilderment and extreme states of shock,” said Corinna Pagels, an emergency psychological counselor offering help to those affected.

Amid the grief, the attack has revived memories in Germany of a similar assault in 2016, when more than a dozen people were mowed down and killed at a Christmas market in Berlin.