Gunman kills six people in rare mass-shooting in Germany
Berlin — Six people have been killed and several were injured in a shooting in the southwestern German town of Rot am See, police said Friday.
A suspect was arrested shortly after the shooting, which took place at 12:45 p.m. (6:45 a.m. Eastern) Friday near the town's train station, police said. They said no further suspects are believed to be at large.
"According to my information, there were six dead and several injured," Aalen police spokesman Rudolf Biehlmaier told German broadcaster n-tv.
"We are working on the assumption that this was a single attacker," he said.
Biehlmaier said the initial information suggested the suspect, a German citizen, and one or more of the victims knew each other.
Some of the victims belonged to the same family, he added.
It was not clear what kind of firearm the suspect used, but police said further information would be released at a news conference with prosecutors and local officials on Friday afternoon.
Rot am See is located about 105 miles northwest of Munich.
Multiple-victim shootings are rare in Germany, which has strict gun control laws like most of Europe. The last major incident was an attack by a far-right extremist who attacked a synagogue in the town of Halle in October.
It remains unclear how the Halle shooter obtained his weapons, but police said they appeared to be homemade. The gunman failed to enter the secured synagogue but killed two people outside the building before being apprehended.
