An employee of a religious establishment for the disabled near Berlin is suspected of having committed a massacre with four people killed and a fifth seriously injured, police said on Thursday, trying to determine the motives for the crime.
The victims, two men and two women, were stabbed to death on Wednesday evening in this center of Potsdam, a city adjacent to Berlin, according to the daily Bild.
The police for their part did not give details at this stage on the murder weapon.
“The injuries of all the victims are, according to the findings, the result of the use of intense, extreme violence,” she said in a statement, without being able to immediately give details of the circumstances of the alleged murders. .
The prosecution plans to speak during the day.
An employee of the clinic, aged 51 and “on whom there are strong suspicions” of being the author of the facts, was arrested, added the investigators while specifying that the motivations of the alleged crimes remain at this stage ” indeterminate ”.
“An incomprehensible act”
This woman arrested at the scene has so far refused to comment on the facts, believes Bild.
The bodies were found in different rooms.
The establishment, named Thusnelda-von-Saldern-Haus, specializes in welcoming and supporting people with physical or mental disabilities, especially blind and autistic people.
Some 65 people live in this structure which employs more than 80 people.
The site, managed by a diaconal service provider specializing in health, education and employment in particular, includes housing, schools, and workshops.
At first, the police indicated that it was a clinic.
Specialized police teams were dispatched to the site to identify traces and evidence.
The leader of the Brandenburg region, of which Potsdam is the capital, Dietmar Woidke, said he was “shocked by this horrible news”.
“My thoughts are with the victims and their loved ones,” he said, stressing that it was a “difficult day” for his region.
For his part, the mayor of the city, Mike Schubert, considered that it was an “incomprehensible act”.
A ceremony in memory of the victims is scheduled for Thursday evening, according to Matthias Fichtmüller of the theological council of the establishment.