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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Ryan Fahey

Two dead in shooting at Mercedes-Benz factory in Germany as suspect arrested

A man has opened fire at a Mercedes-Benz factory in Germany leaving two people dead.

The suspect, a 53-year-old man, was taken into custody, a spokesman for the Stuttgart prosecutor's office said.

Mercedes-Benz confirmed two people were killed at its Sindelfingen plant and said the company was "deeply shocked and saddened by the tragic news. Our thoughts are with the victims, their families and all colleagues on site."

Police received the first emergency calls just before 6am local time on Thursday morning.

There is no further danger to employees at the plant.

A hearse drives into the Mercedes plant in Sindelfingen (Julian Rettig/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images)

Information about the suspect's motive was not immediately available.

The sprawling Sindelfingen works employ around 35,000 workers producing E-Class and S-Class luxury sedans and CLS and GLC coupes, according to the company's website. It also houses planning, purchasing and development and design departments.

In March, an evil killer shot dead seven people and seriously injured more in a Jehovah's Witness church.

Philipp F, 35, who works in the business centre. Thomas Radszuweit, a Hamburg security official, said the suspected shooter was not previously known to authorities and there was no previous case against him.

Police say the perpetrator shot himself inside the Jehovah's Witnesses hall after officers forced their way into the building

Hamburg police chief Ralf Martin Meyer said the suspected shooter had a weapons license and legally owned a semi-automatic pistol.

There was still no word on a possible motive for the shooting on Thursday evening that stunned Germany's second-biggest city. Chancellor Olaf Scholz, a former Hamburg mayor, described the shooting as “a brutal act of violence.”

According to the German magazine Spiegel, the suspect was a former member of the congregation that had gathered for a Bible study meeting at the centre.

Citing his website, Spiegel said Phillip F. grew up in Kempten in the Allgäu region in a strictly religious family. After he left high school, he trained as a bank clerk.

He settled in Hamburg after studying business administration and after living abroad on a number of occasions. On his website, he says he is "multicultural" and "a self-confessed European."

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