A Bundeswehr soldier is said to have shot four people overnight in the Lower Saxony communities of Scheeßel and Bothel between Hamburg and Bremen. According to the Verden public prosecutor’s office, the victims in the Scheeßel community are 55 and 30 years old, as a spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office said. At the second crime scene – in Bothel – a three-year-old child and the 33-year-old mother were killed.
“The currently suspected Bundeswehr soldier turned himself in shortly after the crime was committed and was arrested by police forces,” the authorities said in a statement. The investigation into the background to the crime is ongoing. The background to the crime is unclear. “A motive in the family environment cannot be ruled out,” it was initially said. However, no relationship between the alleged perpetrator and the dead has been established so far. Crime scenes should be residential buildings. The police were on a large scale.
The DPA news agency reported on an operation at the Von Düring barracks in Rotenburg. The soldier drove there after the crime and reported to the station, which in turn alerted the police, said a police spokesman. Traces were secured at the barracks. Among other things, an incendiary device was found in the suspect’s car. One can only speculate as to why the Molotov cocktail was in the car, the spokesman said. It is unclear whether the perpetrator killed with a Bundeswehr weapon. The investigators initially did not provide any information about the soldier’s identity. He was due to appear before the judge on Friday afternoon.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated several times.
Sources: Verden public prosecutor’s office and Rotenburg police station, news agencies AFP and DPA
