5 killed in shooting outside youth welfare centre in Germany, police say

Five people were fatally shot outside a youth welfare centre in a town in northern ‌Germany on Monday, according to police.

Two people have been detained, including the suspected shooter.

A motive for the incident, which happened in Stade, a town about 50 kilometres west of the city of Hamburg, was not immediately clear, a police spokesperson told Reuters.

The role of the ​second individual suspected of being involved is unclear, a second police spokesperson told Reuters, adding that no ​other suspects were at large.

Just after the incident, police told residents to ​stay away from the area, which investigators had cordoned off.

Police later said there was no danger to the public.

Mass shootings are uncommon in Germany, though there have been several notable cases in recent years.

In 2023, a gunman in Hamburg shot ​dead six people before killing himself ​at ⁠a Jehovah’s Witness worship hall. In 2016, an 18-year-old German-Iranian man who was obsessed with mass killings ⁠killed ​at least nine people in ​Munich.

— This is a developing story; check back for updates.

— with files from Reuters