6 killed in shooting at mother-and-baby shelter in Germany, police say

Authorities have not confirmed how many people were injured. All those killed were adults, a spokesperson with Stade police told Reuters.

Six people were fatally shot at a mother and baby shelter in a town in northern ‌Germany on Monday, according to police.

Authorities said three people had been detained, the suspected shooter among them, and ​that all the fatalities were adults, including four women and one man, who died at the scene in Stade, a town near the city of Hamburg. A sixth victim, also an adult, died later at a hospital, the Associated Press reported.

Police said the shooting took place in the facility on Dankersstrasse, a street south of the town centre. The building includes temporary accommodations for pregnant women, young mothers and their children.

A motive for the incident was not immediately clear, a police spokesperson told Reuters, adding that no ​other suspects were at large.

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

Police later said there was no danger to the public.

Video footage after the shooting showed a large police presence, along with other emergency service personnel and several ambulances on a residential street.

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.

Stade has about 50,000 inhabitants and is located about 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Hamburg.

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