A man suspected of fatally shooting six child welfare workers at a shelter for mothers in Stade in northern Germany last month died by suicide in jail on Tuesday, officials said.
The suspect, who has been partially identified in German media as 45-year-old Fatih Khan G., was found dead by jail staff in his single cell early Tuesday, the Lower Saxony state justice ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said there are “currently no indications of third-party involvement” in the suspect’s death at the jail, and that both his relatives and the relatives of the shooting victims had been informed.
Four women and two men were killed in the shooting on June 29th at a shelter for mothers and their children in the northern town of Stade.
The mass shooting is among the worst such crimes in recent German history.
The suspected gunman had arrived at the centre for an appointment to discuss future care arrangements for his three-month-old daughter.
Authorities said the man suddenly pulled out a firearm and opened fire on child welfare workers, with the local police chief saying the victims were killed “in a brutal manner”.
A seventh person was wounded but survived. Both the child and her 34-year-old mother were at the centre at the time of the shootings but were unharmed.
The suspected gunman tried to flee in a car driven by a 65-year-old woman — described by police as having “a close connection to the gunman’s family” — but was captured after a short chase.
Police officers opened fire on the car but neither the gunman nor the driver were hurt, according to the police chief.
The magazine Der Spiegel, citing unnamed sources, reported that the man had been previously accused of shaking the three-month-old girl.
Doctors had reportedly found injuries to the girl consistent with shaking.
The suspect allegedly then made threats against doctors at the medical centre where the girl had been treated, triggering a police investigation that was later dropped.
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