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At least two girls have been injured, and a 16-year-old suspect has been arrested after an attack at a secondary school in Bavaria, southern Germany.
The incident occurred on Wednesday at the Welfen Grammar School in the town of Schongau.
A police spokesperson told AFP that the suspect appeared to have deliberately targeted the school in what investigators described as a suspected rampage.
Authorities, however, did not confirm media reports that a knife was used in the attack.
Local police announced on X that a suspect had been arrested and later identified him as a 16-year-old boy.
Police initially reported that several people had been injured before confirming that two girls had sustained serious injuries.
According to the authorities, the victims’ lives are not in danger. Police did not specify whether the injured girls were students at the school.
Investigators said they currently believe the suspect acted alone.
A major police operation was launched in Schongau, a town of about 12,000 residents located north of the Alps.
Authorities urged members of the public to avoid the area while emergency operations continued.
A support centre for students’ parents and relatives was established at the Schongau fire station.
German newspaper Bild reported that police deployed six helicopters during the operation, including one for medical evacuation. Another helicopter was used in the search for the suspect, who briefly fled before being apprehended by officers.
Although serious violence at educational institutions is relatively rare in Germany, the country has witnessed several high-profile attacks in recent decades.
Last year, a teacher was seriously injured in an attack at a vocational college in the western city of Essen. The 17-year-old suspect was shot by police before being arrested, with prosecutors alleging he acted on jihadist motives.
In January 2022, an 18-year-old gunman killed one student and injured three others at the University of Heidelberg before taking his own life.
Germany also witnessed major school shootings in 2009, when 17-year-old Tim Kretschmer killed 15 people at his former school in Winnenden before committing suicide, and in 2002, when a 19-year-old gunman killed 16 people at a school in Erfurt.
