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School attack near Berlin
Two people were found dead at a school in the town of Gosen-Neu Zittau near Berlin on Thursday, and police said a suspect was detained.
“Two people were found dead on Thursday at a school in the town of Gosen-Neu Zittau near Berlin and a suspect has been detained”
Police said they received several calls reporting that a violent crime had taken place at a school, and at the scene emergency services found two people with fatal injuries.
Brandenburg state police said they arrested a 19-year-old German man who was considered a prime suspect, and they said it was not a mass shooting.
Local media reported that one of the dead was an 18-year-old secondary school female student and the other victim was a 30-year-old man who died when he tried to intervene.
Investigators currently assumed the attack was an act motivated by a personal relationship, according to police statements cited by Reuters and the BBC.
Reactions and labels
Brandenburg’s regional parliament speaker Ulrike Liedtke called the incident a "cowardly femicide," saying, "The fact that we once again had to witness deadly violence against a woman fills me with deep sorrow and anger."
State premier Dietmar Woidke said it was an "unimaginable act of violence," while the BBC reported that the school’s managing director Michael Kunz said classes will be cancelled on Friday.
The BBC described the event as a "domestic violence incident" at a school near Berlin, while Reuters and other outlets cited police assumptions that the attack was motivated by a personal relationship.
The school managing director Michael Kunz said the school would remain open for all students who wished to come, and he said, "We want to provide them with a safe space where they can come together, talk to each other, and process what has happened."
Euronews and local media also framed it as a violent incident, reporting that the alarm had been raised at a secondary school in Gosen-Neu Zittau and that the man arrested was the ex-boyfriend of the victim.
Aftermath and school impact
Police said they received several phonecalls at around 1:45 pm local time (1145 GMT) about the incident at a secondary school in the town of Gosen-Neu Zittau, set in a forested area just outside the German capital in Brandenburg state.
“Police said in a statement that they received several phonecalls at around 1:45 pm local time”
Police said they currently believe the incident was "linked to a relationship, not a random act," and they confirmed that a 19-year-old German man had been arrested and was "strongly suspected" of being responsible.
The private Docemus school said that while regular classes would be cancelled Friday, the school "will remain open to any students who wish to come to the campus," according to the MAZ reporting cited by France 24.
Michael Kunz said a "very careful" decision will be made in coming days about how school life will be structured, while RTL reported that police were still securing the premises and that emergency services were on site.
The BBC also noted that last month, two girls were seriously wounded and a 16-year-old suspect arrested at a secondary school in southern Germany, adding context to the broader pattern of school attacks described in the coverage.