Updated 00.14 | Published 2026-06-29 22.34
The perpetrator went to the social services office in Stade, Germany for a meeting about custody of his daughter.
Then everything went off the rails.
Now he is suspected of having shot dead six employees.
At lunchtime on Monday, the police were alerted to the social services office in Stade outside Hamburg.
There, four women and two men were found shot to death.
The suspected perpetrator fled in a black Mercedes AMG SUV, but was arrested a short distance away together with a woman who was behind the wheel.
According to Focus a custody dispute is behind the attack. The 45-year-old man was there to discuss the custody of his three-month-old daughter when, for unknown reasons, the situation “escalated in a brutal way”.
Started shooting at the meeting
He is said to have then pulled out a weapon, for which he did not have a license, and started shooting.
All six who were killed were employees of the social services office, according to German media.
The man, who is a German citizen, should belong to the Miri network, according to the television channel NDR. A family-based criminal network engaged in drug and arms trafficking, according to German media. The police do not want to confirm the information during Monday evening’s press conference.
– There is police information about him, including threats. But he has so far not been considered particularly violent in our police system, the police say at a press conference.
“Cold Blooded”
The mother of the three-month-old child has also been detained after the crime, writes Focus. It is still unclear why.
Daniela Behrens, Minister of the Interior in Lower Saxony, describes the incident as an “extremely cold-blooded act of violence”.
She states that the act should not be politically or extremist motivated.
