5 wounded by man wielding chain saw

BERLIN — A man armed with a chain saw wounded five people at a health insurer’s office Monday in the northern Swiss city of Schaffhausen, police said, triggering a manhunt for a suspect described as aggressive and psychologically unstable.

Suspect Franz Wrousis, 51, has two previous convictions for weapons offenses and no fixed residence, authorities said. A dog-walker said she had seen him in the woods near Schaffhausen in the past few weeks.

The attacker wounded two insurance agency employees in their ground-floor office, said Christina Wettstein, a spokeswoman for insurer CSS. Authorities said their lives were not in danger.

Police said one CSS employee was seriously injured and the other was slightly injured. Another three people were slightly injured in the attack, police said, but there was no information on them.

The perpetrator had fled by the time police arrived. Authorities sealed off the city’s old town until midafternoon but kept up their manhunt.

Swiss police ruled out terrorism.

“This was first and foremost a crime against this insurance agency,” said senior regional police official Ravi Landolt, though there were no details on the suspect’s motive. “We have information that this man is dangerous, that he is aggressive and, shall we say, psychologically disturbed.”

Swiss media reported that Wrousis was a CSS client. Switzerland has a system that requires residents to have health insurance with private health insurers.

Prosecutor Peter Sticher said Wrousis has two previous convictions for offenses against weapons laws, one from 2014 and 2016.