A mass shooting at a German housing centre for pregnant women left six people dead and several injured today.
Shots were fired in the Dankersstrasse area of Stade in Lower Saxony this afternoon. Five people – made up of four women and a man – died at the scene. A six person, whose gender is not known, died later in hospital.
Police have arrested two suspects, at least one of whom is male.
The motive for the shooting, which happened at around 12.10pm local time (11.10am UK time), was initially unclear, but cops later said this was an ‘extended family tragedy’, adding: ‘It is not related to femicide or a political motive.’
Police further said the motive ‘lies within the environment’ of the facility.
All the victims were adults, and no suspects are still at large. Police had earlier asked people to avoid the scene of the attack ‘for [their] own safety.’
A police statement said: ‘A homicide occurred at a youth care facility on Dankersstrasse, resulting in multiple victims.
‘Five people were fatally injured, and others sustained injuries. As part of the immediate search and police operation, two suspected perpetrators, including the alleged shooter, were arrested.’
An eyewitness told Focus, a German news magazine, that they heard police fire shots at a man and a woman who appeared to be attempting to flee the scene in a car.
One officer reportedly shouted at the car’s inhabitants: ‘Stop, stay put!’
Footage shared by Bild appeared to show this moment, in which an adult was seen falling out of a stopped grey car as a second person was being detained by armed police.
Footage from local media appeared to show the moment the suspects in the shooting were arrested
Five people have died in a mass shooting in Dankersstrasse area of Stade in Lower Saxony
When the car did not stop, police fired up to 15 rounds. Police were then heard saying there had been shots to the ‘chest’ and ‘head’, though it is not clear whether these were in reference to the alleged perpetrators or the victims.
Local media reported that both of the people detained were both over 21 years of age.
The eyewitness said they saw a person being carried out of the care facility on a stretcher and being resuscitated on the street.
German broadcaster RTL reported that investigators do not believe it was connected to ‘clan-based organised crime’.
It is not known how many people were injured in the attack. The role of the second person detained is also being determined.
But police said that some people were ‘seriously injured’ during the attack.
A heavy police prescence was seen at the site of the shooting
A large number of crime scene investigators were spotted at the site of the attack
A spokesperson for the city of Stade said there was no danger to a daycare and a primary school near the youth welfare facility.
Stade has a population of around 50,000 people, and is located west of Hamburg.
Germany has some of Europe’s strictest gun laws – they require anyone under 25 to pass a psychiatric exam before applying for a gun licence – and mass shootings are relatively rare.
But they occur from time to time, and Monday’s was among the deadliest in recent times.
Earlier this year, a pair of shootings in Berlin and Strullendorf saw a total of four people die and four people get injured.
The January shooting in Berlin saw four people get wounded during a family dispute in the centre of the city.
Emergency responders and forensic investigators in Stade, Germany, Monday, June 29, 2026
And in February, a man shot and killed his wife and two children, before turning the gun on himself, in the Bavarian city of Strullendorf.
In February 2020, a far-right extremist shot dead nine people and wounded five others in the central German city of Hanau.
In March 2023 a disgruntled former Jehovah’s Witness member shot dead six people from the Christian group’s congregation in the German city of Hamburg, before turning the gun on himself.
In May 2022 a 21-year-old gunman opened fire at a secondary school in northern Germany, badly injuring a female member of staff before being arrested.
