Shots fired at rave-goers in Aarau: one dead, five injured – perpetrator at large
Gunfire was directed at a crowd at a music festival in Aarau during the night of Sunday. A 22-year-old woman died, and five other people were injured.
Fatal shootings following rave in Aarau – motive still unclear
Gunfire was directed at a crowd at the racecourse in Aarauer Schachen during the night of Sunday. According to the NZZ, a 22-year-old woman died in the incident; four men and one woman aged between 24 and 27 years were partially severely injured and are being treated in hospital.
The gunfire occurred at approximately half past two in the morning, after the final concert of "Aarauer Rave Vol. 7" had ended around two o'clock. By that time, many of the roughly 2,500 visitors had already left the grounds. The festival has attracted several thousand people for years; guests dance and celebrate to electronic music in front of a stage next to the main stand of the racecourse.
All victims are residents of Switzerland. The deceased woman was from Italy. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed her condolences on X: "I express my deepest sympathy for the death of Maria Spinelli, the young Italian who lost her life in the tragic shooting attack in Aarau." According to the "Corriere della Sera", Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani formed a task force and deployed it to Switzerland. According to Meloni, among the injured are also two further Italian citizens.
Perpetrator unknown, search under way nationwide
Who was behind the shots remains unclear. Police commandant Michael Leupold stated at a press conference on Sunday evening: "There is at least one perpetrator." However, reports received also suggested multiple perpetrators. Cartridge casings from different firearms were found at various locations on the grounds – an indication of at least two people, although police do not rule out that a single person carried multiple weapons.
According to a spokesman, Aargau cantonal police assume that the perpetrator or perpetrators have already left the area: "It is unlikely that they are still in the area." Where the fugitives fled to and which vehicle they used were still unknown in the early Sunday evening. The search is proceeding "at full speed" and extends across the entire country. More than one hundred emergency personnel are deployed – police officers, firefighters and paramedics. Due to the ongoing manhunt, there is a residual risk, according to police.
For relatives of victims and witnesses, cantonal police have set up a hotline: 062 835 62 62.
Three hypotheses on the motive
Police commandant Leupold could not provide confirmed information on the motive for the crime. He cited three equally weighted hypotheses: a terrorist attack, a shooting rampage or a criminal incident with a hitherto unknown motive. "We do not know. We are pursuing the hypotheses intensively. All three are equally probable," said Leupold.
According to cantonal police, the timing is remarkable: the shots were fired only after the festival had ended, when a large part of the visitors had already left the grounds. The spokesman hinted that a targeted attack on the crowd at an earlier time – during the ongoing concert – would have endangered far more people.
Aarau on Sunday: cordons, minutes of silence, late-summer weather
Cantonal police cordoned off the area around the Schachen sports facility on a large scale, although according to their own statements there is no "acute danger situation". The cordons primarily served the purposes of crime scene investigation. Aarau swimming pool remained closed until further notice; the Aargau Football Association cancelled all matches at Schachen sports facility and at the Breite in Erlinsbach.
The city's appearance on Sunday showed an unusual contradiction: minutes of silence were held in churches, while late-summer activity prevailed on the city's terraces. A group of teenagers followed an SRF special broadcast on their mobile phone at Starbucks; a friend of theirs had also been at the rave and initially thought the shots were fireworks.
The organisers of "Aarauer Rave" spoke up on Instagram: they were "shocked" and would do everything to support the police in their work.
Source: NZZ