Six people killed in shooting at youth facility in northern Germany

Police called the incident a homicide with multiple victims in the town of Stade near the port city ​of Hamburg. The motive was not immediately clear.

The Spiegel news outlet, ​citing information it obtained, said it was likely a personal rather ⁠than political or extremist matter.

Police said that two people had been detained, including ​the suspected shooter. Police had warned people to stay away from the area where ​the incident took place, but later said there was no danger to the general public.

German media reports initially said four women and one man were dead. Police later said a sixth ​adult had died in hospital of wounds,

Police said the incident occurred at a youth welfare ​facility in Stade, a town of nearly 50,000 people to the west of Hamburg. German media said ‌the ⁠site included facilities for mothers and children.

Footage posted by the Bild newspaper showed a car with a busted right tyre slowing to a halt in a tree-lined road. Police with guns then ran towards the car and detained two people who ​were made to lie ​flat on the ⁠ground.

Police cordoned off the area near the youth facility in a cobbled street with red brick homes, and forensic ​experts in white suits and plainclothes police were at the ​scene.

Mass shootings ⁠are rare in Germany, especially when compared to the United States. In 2023, a gunman in Hamburg shot dead six people before killing himself at a Jehovah's Witness worship ⁠hall. In ​2016, an 18-year-old German-Iranian man who was obsessed ​with mass killings killed at least nine people in Munich.