Gunman held after killing 2

NUREMBERG: A man suspected of having shot dead two people while driving a silver Mercedes convertible through the southern German town of Leutershausen was in police custody yesterday after a short search.

According to police, the suspect fired multiple shots from the car, first killing a woman and then a man on a bicycle.

The man, whose identity has not been released, shot a woman about 11.30am from his locally registered Mercedes in the town of Tiefenthal, near Ansbach, police said in a statement.

The woman died at the scene and the man fled in his car, then fatally shooting a man on a bicycle in the nearby town of Rammersdorf, according to police.

The suspect also shot at a pedestrian and the driver of another vehicle, but hit neither, police said.

No reason was given for the attacks. The suspect was arrested after police put out a general warning for people to be aware of a man driving through the community in a convertible.

Police said the suspect had driven 30km from the sites of the attacks by the time he was caught. Local media reported that the suspect was detained at a petrol station in Bad Windsheim, several kilometres to the north of Ansbach.

Shots were fired towards at least two other people, police said. “Based on initial investigations, both of them were unhurt,” said police from the nearby city of Nuremberg.

Leutershausen Mayor Siegfried Hess expressed shock at the attack.

“Living in a town of 5,500 residents, where we’ve always had a peaceful life, we only know situations like this from TV,” he said, adding that he was “stunned and flabbergasted.”

Such things don’t happen in a small community like his, he said “and then something like this happens right in front of your house door”.

“At this point, you don’t know what to think any more”.