Police in Schongau, southern Germany, arrested a suspect after several people were injured — some with stab wounds — in an attack partly inside and partly outside the Welfen-Gymnasium school on Wednesday, in an incident officers say is developing “in the direction of a rampage situation.”
A suspect has been detained after multiple people were wounded, several with stab wounds, in an attack at a secondary school in Schongau, Bavaria, on Wednesday. The alarm was raised around 12.50pm local time, during school hours, at the Welfen-Gymnasium, located southwest of Munich. Police said the number of victims and the severity of their injuries were still being confirmed, though officers told German broadcaster SRF the figure was in the single digits. It remains unclear whether those injured are students or teachers.
Attack Took Place In and Around the School
The incident is believed to have unfolded partly outside and partly in the immediate vicinity of the school, according to police. A spokesperson for the Upper Bavaria South police headquarters told local outlet Kreisbote the situation was developing “in the direction of a rampage situation,” while a police spokesperson separately told German outlet BILD: “We cannot rule out the possibility of a school shooting.” Local broadcaster Radio Oberland reported that police were working from an initial assessment of a single-digit number of casualties as the investigation continued.
Suspect Apprehended After Attempting to Flee
The alleged attacker reportedly tried to escape the scene but was caught a short time later. A police helicopter was deployed as part of the search. Confirming the arrest, police wrote on X: “A suspected perpetrator has been arrested,” adding that “the number of people involved and the severity of the injuries are currently being clarified.”
Major Police Operation and Public Appeals
More than 15 patrol cars were sent to the school on Dornauer Weg, according to police, who urged the public to stay away from the area as the operation continued. “A major police operation is underway,” officers said in an earlier update. “We are on site with numerous forces.” A support centre for relatives and parents of students has since been set up at the fire station on Bahnhofstrasse, giving families a point of contact as details of the incident continue to emerge. Schongau itself is a small town on the banks of the Lech River in western Upper Bavaria, close to the Alps, with a population of more than 12,000 people.
Part of a Wider Pattern of Rare but Recurring Violence
While mass violence in German schools remains uncommon by international standards, Wednesday’s incident is not without precedent. Last year, a 17-year-old seriously wounded a 45-year-old teacher at a vocational college in Essen before being shot by police during his arrest. In 2002, a 19-year-old gunman killed 16 people, including 12 teachers and two pupils, at a school in Erfurt in one of the deadliest such attacks in the country’s history.
The incident also follows a series of other serious attacks in Germany in recent years. Just last month, a 45-year-old man reportedly involved in a child custody dispute opened fire at a shelter for mothers and children in Stade, near Hamburg, killing six people — four women and two men, all employees of the facility — after arriving for a scheduled appointment. His three-month-old daughter and the child’s mother survived. In 2023, a gunman killed six people before turning the weapon on himself at a Jehovah’s Witness worship hall in Hamburg, while in 2016, an 18-year-old German-Iranian man with a documented obsession with mass killings shot dead at least nine people in Munich.
