Germany: Student opens fire with a rifle in German lecture hall before killing himself

Source: Daily Mail

A student today opened fire during a lecture at a German university, injuring four people, before killing himself.

The attacker, armed with a rifle, shot at those inside the lecture hall at Heidelberg University in southwestern Germany, leaving one victim in a critical condition.

The man is dead and is believed to have acted alone, officials said, as specialist SEK commando units and police officers swarmed Neuenheimer Feld, an area of the Heidelberg that consists mostly of university buildings.

The gunman, a student at the university according to DPA news agency, opened fire in the lecture hall and injured four people before turning the weapon on himself, police sources told Bild newspaper.

He reportedly carried several rifles with him during the attack, while investigators said the gunman had no political or religious motives for the shooting.

The university's natural science facilities and parts of the university hospital are mainly located at Neuenheimer Feld.

Mannheim Police Department said in a statement: 'Four people, some seriously injured, currently there is no longer any danger, the perpetrator is dead - it is assumed that the perpetrator was a lone wolf.'

In an earlier statement, police said: 'Large-scale operation in Neuenheimer Feld. This is known so far: A single perpetrator injured several people in a lecture hall with a long gun.

'The perpetrator himself is dead. Colleagues are still on-site with strong forces - we will provide further information here!'

The police had earlier urged drivers to bypass Neuenheimer Feld so that rescue workers and emergency services could travel freely and respond to the shooting.

'We are incredibly shocked. This is a catastrophe that eludes everything conceivable between lectures, exams and university life,' Peter Abelmann, chairman of the student body at the university told Bild.

The University of Heidelberg's press office declined to give any details on the incident and referred all queries to the police.

Heidelberg is located south of Frankfurt and has about 160,000 inhabitants. Its university is one of Germany's best-known.

Germany has been hit in recent years by a spate of attacks, mostly perpetrated by jihadists or far-right militants.

School shootings however are relatively rare in Germany, a country with some of the strictest gun laws in Europe.

In 2009, a former pupil killed nine students, three teachers and three passers-by in a school shooting at Winnenden, also in Baden-Wuerttemberg. The gunman then killed himself.

In 2002, a 19-year-old former student, apparently in revenge for having been expelled, gunned down 16 people including 12 teachers and two students at a school in the central German city of Erfurt. He too then killed himself.