At least six people have been killed in a mass shooting in a suburb of Hamburg, Germany, on Monday.
UPDATE 1945: According to the local Hamburger Morgenpost newspaper, the suspected shooter is a 45-year-old “German man of Turkish descent”. The paper reported that he had previously come to the attention of the police for making violent threats. It is currently believed that the shooting was motivated by a custody dispute involving his three-month-old daughter, who lives with her mother at the youth centre where the shooting occurred. The mother and child are currently under police protection and are being questioned. Another individual is also under police investigation, in addition to the suspect.
UPDATE 1710: Local Police have said that the shooting in Stade outside of a youth centre was an “extended family tragedy” while claiming that there was no political motive behind the attack but rather a motive involving a dispute in regard to the youth centre. The police force has yet to release any information on the three suspects arrested in connection with the shootings.
UPDATE 1630:Stade police said that a sixth victim has now died after succumbing to their injuries in hospital. Meanwhile, a third person has been arrested in connection with the shooting.
UPDATE 1545: A police spokeswoman has told the German Press Agency (dpa) that the death toll could still rise, saying that in addition to the five people killed, there were “several people” injured during the mass shooting, including some who suffered serious wounds.
UPDATE 1430: A second person has been arrested in connection to the mass shooting in Stade on Monday. According to the Focus news magazine, an eyewitness saw a man sitting in a car being driven by a woman, who fled the scene. The witness claimed that police officers demanded that the car stop and then opened fire on the vehicle.
The original story continues as follows…
According to the Bild newspaper, a suspect has been arrested in the Dankersstraße area of the city of Stade in Lower Saxony after a shooting that left at least five people dead.
The local Lüneburg Police said in a statement on social media that a police operation is currently underway in Dankersstraße and that citizens should “avoid the area”.
German broadcaster NTV reported that the shooting took place near a youth centre in the Hamburg suburb.
At the time of this reporting, there have been no indications about the potential motive for the attack or about the background of the suspect arrested on Monday.
This story is developing, more to follow…