Five killed in shooting at youth welfare centre in Germany, suspect arrested

BERLIN: Five people were killed in a shooting at a youth welfare centre in the German city of Stade on Monday, and police said the suspected gunman had been taken into custody in one of the country’s deadliest mass shootings in recent years.

Police said the attack took place at a youth welfare facility in Stade, a city of about 50,000 people on the Elbe river around 50 kilometres west of Hamburg. According to police, five people suffered fatal injuries and several others were also wounded.

The suspected shooter was arrested along with a second alleged perpetrator, police said, adding that inquiries were continuing to establish exactly what happened. Authorities also said there was no longer any danger to the public.

Large numbers of police officers wearing protective gear and ambulances were deployed to the area after the shooting. Images carried by local media showed emergency vehicles gathered on a cobbled street in Stade, while helicopters were seen overhead.

Earlier, police had confirmed that a major operation was under way in the city and urged residents to stay away from the area.

Germany has some of the strictest firearms laws in Europe. Under those rules, people younger than 25 must pass a psychiatric examination before they can apply for a gun licence. Despite those restrictions, mass shootings do occur from time to time, though they remain relatively uncommon.

Recent attacks in Germany

Monday’s shooting is among the deadliest such incidents in the country in recent years. In February 2020, a far-right extremist killed nine people and injured five others in Hanau in central Germany.

In March 2023, a former member of Jehovah’s Witnesses who had become disgruntled shot dead six people from the Christian group’s congregation in Hamburg before killing himself. In May 2022, a 21-year-old gunman opened fire at a secondary school in northern Germany, seriously injuring a female staff member before he was arrested.