On Monday, June 29, at noon, police in the city of Stade, Germany, received several emergency calls from a local home for children and youth, which also accommodates mothers with children. Shots were fired at the home. Investigators arrived quickly, as there is a police station nearby.
Police found four dead at the scene. According to police, another person was resuscitated in front of the building, but without success. A sixth person died in hospital from his injuries.
Police stopped a car near the mother and child care center after a chase. The alleged shooter was also in it. This is a "cold-blooded" a crime without "political or economic motives", said Lower Saxony's Interior Minister Daniela Behrens (SPD). It was more likely "family motives".
What is known about the victims?
According to the police, all six victims were employees of the children's and youth home and the youth welfare office. They are four women and two men. The residents of the center were not injured and, according to the police, have been placed in a safe place.
The children's and youth home is located in a quiet residential area in Stade. According to the institution's website, it offers residential groups with full and partial care for mothers and their children. It states that expectant mothers and young women with children are given a new place to live for a limited period of time. According to the police, the center is run by a private organization. It is used by the Hanover child welfare office. The child of the suspected perpetrator, as well as the 34-year-old mother of the three-month-old girl, were placed there.
What is known about the perpetrator and his motive?
The police detained the alleged shooter after shooting out the tires of the car in which he tried to escape. The car was driven by a woman. She was also detained. According to initial information from investigators, the woman was close to the alleged shooter's family.
According to the police, the perpetrator is a 45-year-old man, born in Germany and originally from Hanover. He has Turkish roots. There is police information about the man, including information about making threats. According to investigators, there was a dispute over parental rights over the suspect's child. He had a meeting in this regard at the home in Stade, which was also attended by many of the victims.
According to information from the German public media NDR and WDR, the suspect's child was taken away from the family. He was subsequently returned to the mother, but not to her home in Hanover. She was placed with the child in the children and youth center in Stade.
During the meeting in question, the situation was to be discussed, as the father was considered a problem person. He then pulled out a gun and shot those present. According to the police, the 45-year-old man did not have the right to carry a weapon. According to the current state of the investigation, it is not clear where he got the weapon and whether he had more than one weapon.
What are the reactions?
The crime shocked the entire country. "The news from Stade shakes us to the core", wrote Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz on the social network X. "Many people who wanted to help and protect others lost their lives or were injured." Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier also expressed his condolences. He expressed gratitude to all rescue teams and doctors.
The Prime Minister of Lower Saxony Olaf Lies (SPD) stressed that what happened "deeply affects the entire government of the federal state". At the same time, he called "not to jump to conclusions and to give the investigation the necessary time". Now is "a time for grief, sympathy and objective investigative work, not for speculation and uncertainty".
Six people were "brutally cut off from life", said the provincial interior minister, Daniela Behrens. The suffering caused is "difficult to understand and even more difficult to put into words". The incident will haunt the city for a long time to come and will leave its mark, Behrens added.
ARD