Police barriers at Mercedes-Benz in Sindelfingen
Two people died after shots were fired on the factory premises.
(Photo: dpa)
A gun attack on the Mercedes-Benz factory premises on Thursday morning killed two people. As the public prosecutor’s office in Ludwigsburg and the police announced, two 44-year-old employees of a subcontractor died. The second victim initially survived the shots.
The Stuttgart public prosecutor’s office assumes a single perpetrator. A 53-year-old man fired at the two men on the premises, and the suspect allowed himself to be arrested without resistance. The public prosecutor initially did not want to give any further details about what was happening on the factory premises near Hall 56 or the suspect.
The hall belongs to the luxury production “Factory 56”, the most modern line of the Swabian car manufacturer, on which, among other things, the S-Class is manufactured. After productivity gains, the night shift was eliminated in April, which hit temporary workers harder than permanent employees. Possible motives are still being determined.
The company was dismayed. “The tragic news from Sindelfingen shocked us deeply,” said a spokesman on Thursday. “Our thoughts are with the victims, their relatives and all colleagues on site.” The spokesman gave no information about which company it was.
According to the information, the employees in the affected hall left the factory premises after the shots were fired on Thursday morning. “At the moment the tape is not running as normal,” said the spokesman. It is still uncertain when the hall will be released again and production will continue there. It was also initially unclear how many employees were sent home. The dpa news agency spoke of a “large number”.
The suspected murder weapon was secured, said a spokesman for the responsible police in Ludwigsburg. He has no information about what kind of weapon it is and how it got into the plant. The arrested suspect should be questioned about the crime and motive. In addition, numerous questionings of witnesses took place. The police have taken over the investigation.
According to the police, there is no longer any danger for the employees in the plant. The police received the first emergency calls around 7:45 a.m. on Thursday morning, a police spokeswoman confirmed.
Sindelfingen is near Stuttgart in the Böblingen district. With a history spanning more than a hundred years, the Mercedes Benz plant there has the longest tradition in the group.
With agency material.
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