Mom on Rampage Kills Young Son, Boy's Father
German woman shot dead by police after killing a nurse in a hospital.
Sept. 20, 2010— -- A woman killed three people in a shooting rampage in the German city of Lörrach Sunday before being dead shot by police. She killed her former partner and five-year-old son in an apartment building before entering a nearby hospital. The woman's motives are unclear.
Four people were killed and several injured in a dramatic explosion and shooting incident on Sunday evening in the German city of Lörrach, located near the French and Swiss borders in the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg.
The female perpetrator, who has not been identified, killed her former partner and their five-year-old son in an apartment building in the city center, according to the public prosecutor's office. Police said there was a large explosion in the building around 6 p.m. which was so powerful that a wall was blown out. The woman apparently also fired shots in the building.
It was not immediately clear if the man and the boy had been killed by the shots or by the explosion and accompanying fire. The woman, whose motives are still unclear, was said to be armed with a small-caliber handgun and a knife. Authorities said that the woman did not live in the building.
The woman then ran out of the building. One eyewitness reported seeing her load a gun on the street. She then headed for St. Elisabeth's Hospital, which is located on the same street as the apartment building. The woman shot a nursing assistant dead on the way to the hospital and injured two passersby outside the hospital building. One of the passersby was shot in the back, while the other was grazed on the head by a bullet.
According to an eyewitness, the woman entered the hospital and headed directly for the gynecology department on the second floor of the building. There, she stabbed a nursing assistant and injured a policeman. Police officers then shot the woman dead.
"Through their courageous intervention, the officers prevented an even worse tragedy," said the head of the Baden-Württemberg state police, Wolf Hammann, on Sunday evening. The whole incident lasted less than 40 minutes, he said.
