Six dead in Stade youth centre shooting as custody dispute turns deadly
A 45-year-old man opened fire at a mothers-and-children shelter in Stade, near Hamburg, on Monday, killing six staff members. Police say the attack stemmed from a meeting over care rights to his infant daughter.
The shooting
At about midday on 29 June, police in Stade, Lower Saxony, began receiving emergency calls reporting gunfire at a private youth-assistance centre on Dankersstrasse. The facility houses pregnant women and young mothers with their children. Officers arriving at the scene found four people dead; a fifth victim died during resuscitation attempts, and a sixth succumbed to wounds in hospital. Witnesses described panic after the first shots, with one telling Focus magazine that a woman and a young man tried to flee in a car before officers opened fire, discharging 10 to 15 rounds.
- Police receive emergency calls about shots fired at the youth centre.
- Shots are fired inside the facility; witnesses report panic.
- Suspect flees in a car driven by a female acquaintance; police fire at the vehicle.
- Police confirm six people have died and several are wounded.
- Evening press conference: police and interior minister detail the custody-dispute motive.
The victims
All six fatalities were adults, four women and two men, who worked at the centre. No residents or children were physically harmed, police said. Several other people were wounded, some seriously, though authorities have not disclosed the exact number. The centre, a private facility that cooperates with Hannover’s youth office, remained cordoned off for hours as forensic teams in white suits gathered evidence.
The suspect and motive
The main suspect is a 45-year-old German national born in Germany, of Turkish descent, from near Hannover. He was known to police because of earlier threats but was not flagged as a current danger. He had no firearms licence; the weapon used was recovered. After the attack he left in a car driven by a woman described as close to his family. Two other people were detained, the woman driver and one further person whose role is under investigation.
The motive is probably connected to custody. The man had an appointment at the centre in Stade concerning care of his three-month-old daughter.
The child lives in the centre with her mother. The mother is being questioned by police. Authorities said they see no political, extremist or clan-crime link.
Official reaction
Lower Saxony’s interior minister Daniela Behrens called the killings a brutal, cold-blooded act of violence that had no political or economic background, attributing it instead to family motives. Stade city councillor Carsten Brokelmann thanked police for their service in a chaotic situation and offered his deepest condolences to the victims’ families. Police commander Schuol confirmed that, once the suspects were caught, there was no further threat to the public and that nearby kindergarten and primary schools had not been endangered.
This act had no political or economic dimension. The background lies in family motives.
