Two killed in attack at school near Berlin; suspect held
A 19-year-old German man was taken into custody after a violent incident at a school in the small community of Gosen-Neu Zittau, on the southeastern edge of Berlin, left two people dead, police said.
Brandenburg state police described the attack as a "domestic violence incident" and said the suspect, who they called a "prime suspect," was detained. They did not specify what weapon was used and said the incident was not a "mass shooting."
The victims were identified by police and local media as an 18-year-old female secondary school student and a 30-year-old man. Police said the man was a nursery worker at the school, which houses a primary school, a secondary school, and a nursery. Earlier reports that the man was the caretaker were incorrect, according to police.
The suspect is believed to be the ex-boyfriend of the 18-year-old victim, according to Maz Online. Police said the crime was linked to a relationship and confirmed the woman's age. It is not yet known if the suspect was a student at the private Docemus school.
Community and official response
The school's managing director, Michael Kunz, said classes would be cancelled on Friday, but the school would remain open for students who wished to come. "We want to provide them with a safe space where they can come together, talk to each other, and process what has happened," he told local media. A "very careful" decision about how school life will be structured would be made in coming days, he added.
Ulrike Liedtke, the speaker of Brandenburg's regional parliament, called the incident a "cowardly femicide" and expressed "deep sorrow and anger" over the deadly violence. "I am shaken that a citizen who showed moral courage and wanted to help also lost his life in this terrible act," she said. State premier Dietmar Woidke described it as an "unimaginable act of violence."
Context
Last month, in a separate attack at a secondary school in southern Germany, two girls were seriously wounded and a 16-year-old suspect was arrested.