BERLIN (AP) – A man fatally shot two people in the southern German region of Bavaria on Friday, and fired at two others before being overpowered by two mechanics at a gas station where he had stopped and was threatening staff with a pistol, police said.
Authorities said the killings appeared to have been random.
The 47-year-old man, identified only as Bernd G. under German privacy laws, shot a woman at about 10 a.m. (0800 GMT) from his locally-registered silver Mercedes in the town of Tiefenthal, near Ansbach, police said.
The 82-year-old woman died at the scene and the suspect fled in his car. He then fatally shot a man on a bicycle in the nearby town of Rammersdorf.
The suspect also shot at a pedestrian and a farmer driving a tractor, but hit neither, police said.
Shortly afterward, he entered a gas station in Bad Windsheim, about 35 kilometers (20 miles) from the scene of the shootings. He threatened staff, but they were able to overwhelm and subdue him until police arrived.
Bavaria’s interior minister, Joachim Herrmann, called the shooting an “ugly, incomprehensible crime,” noting that there was no indication the suspect had known the victims.
Prosecutors said the suspect showed signs of psychological problems after his arrest and was currently being assessed by a psychologist. The man, who lived locally, had no previous convictions, lead prosecutor Gerhard Neuhof said.