An alleged gunman killed six employees at a welfare center for young mothers in Stade, Lower Saxony, Germany, on Monday afternoon. Police have identified the motive as a custody battle over the suspect's three-month-old daughter.
The 45-year-old suspect, who was born in Germany and is of Turkish descent, reportedly carried out the attack at the facility on Dankersstrasse. Five victims died at the scene, and a sixth succumbed to their injuries in a hospital. All victims were employees of the center. Several other individuals were injured during the incident.
The suspect's infant daughter and her mother were present in the building at the time of the shooting but were unharmed. A custody hearing was scheduled for Monday.
Lower Saxony's Interior Minister Daniela Behrens described the event as "an act of violence carried out in an extremely cold-blooded manner, with no political or economic motives." Police stated the suspect, who is from the Hanover area, was known to them in relation to threats but was not considered a particularly violent individual and did not possess a firearms license.
Following the attack, the suspect fled the scene in a car driven by a woman. Police pursued the vehicle, and an eyewitness reported hearing officers fire shots at the car as it attempted to flee. Police fired up to 15 rounds at the car. The driver, a 65-year-old woman, and the baby's 34-year-old mother are being questioned by authorities.
Images from the scene showed a grey Mercedes with a shredded tire, surrounded by police officers. The 45-year-old suspect was apprehended. Police have not released his identity.
Stade is a town of approximately 50,000 people located west of Hamburg. Mass shootings are rare in Germany, which has strict gun laws, including mandatory psychiatric evaluations for individuals under 25 applying for a gun license. Recent years have seen several notable shootings, including an attack in Hanau in February 2020 that killed nine people, a shooting at a Jehovah's Witness congregation in Hamburg in March 2023 that resulted in six deaths, and an incident at a secondary school in northern Germany in May 2022 where a staff member was injured.
Authorities continue to investigate the incident.