Shooting rampage in Aarau: 43-year-old fires 40 shots at rave party – one dead
A 43-year-old Swiss man fired an assault rifle at attendees of a rave party in Aarau, killing a 22-year-old woman. Police have classified the incident as a shooting rampage.
Aargau police confirm shooting rampage following fatal attack on rave party in Aarau
As reported by Google News CH — Crime (de), the Aargau cantonal police have released further details regarding the fatal gun attack on a rave party in Aarau and have classified the incident as a shooting rampage by a single perpetrator. "With near certainty we can tell you that the man we have apprehended is the person who fired on the visitors to this rave party," said police commander Michael Leupold on Wednesday.
The alleged perpetrator is a 43-year-old Swiss national without a migration background and resident of the canton of Jura. According to investigators' reconstruction, he drove his car to Schachenstrasse and continued on foot. There he fired an assault rifle forty times in the direction of the revellers. On the way back to the car park, he additionally fired shots with a pistol at a departing vehicle.
A 22-year-old woman was fatally struck. Six other persons sustained injuries, two of whom remained hospitalised at the time of reporting.
After the attack, the suspect left Aarau and drove in the direction of the Jura. Approximately eighty emergency calls and more than one hundred tip-offs were received by police. A witness statement led investigators to track a vehicle with a Jura registration plate. The 43-year-old eventually turned himself in to the Jura cantonal police in Delémont and stated to authorities that he had committed the act.
Officers secured three weapons registered to him in his vehicle: a pistol and two AK-74 assault rifles that he had acquired privately. "Twenty years ago this acquisition was approved by the authorities of the canton of Jura," said Leupold. The man previously served as a troop cook in the Swiss Army, left military service in 2013 and returned his personal service weapon at that time. He had no prior police record.
The motive remains unclear. A house search yielded no evidence of an ideological or extremist background. A personal connection of the accused to Aarau is also unknown. He himself attributed his actions to "psychological suffering". The public prosecutor's office sees indications of a mental disorder, though without reliable findings at this stage.
The public prosecutor's office requested pre-trial detention and is investigating inter alia for intentional homicide and murder, partially attempted, multiple endangerment of life, and violations of weapons legislation. According to authorities, there is no evidence of accomplices or witnesses with foreknowledge.
Source: Google News CH — Crime (de)