Heidelberg shooting: Gunman killed and several injured in attack at German university

The shooting took place in the Neuenheimer Feld area of the city

Several people were injured by a gunman at a lecture theatre in the southwest German city of Heidelberg on Monday, police said.

The gunman was dead, police added, but did not give details of how he had died. They had earlier asked people on Twitter to avoid the Neuenheimer Feld area of Heidelberg, where the city’s university is located.

“This is what is known so far: A lone perpetrator injured several people in a lecture hall with a long gun. The perpetrator himself is dead”, police said in a tweet.

German news agency dpa cited unidentified security sources saying that the gunman had killed himself.

Authorities would not confirm a report by dpa that one victim had died of her injuries a few hours after being shot in the head, again from unidentified security sources. A news conference was expected to take place on Monday evening.

It is not yet known how many people were wounded, or how seriously.

The man opened fire with a long-barrelled firearm in a lecture hall and then fled outside, police said. They stressed that they believed he was acting alone and that there was no longer any danger.

It was also reported that the gunman was believed to have been a student himself, and that security officials had said initial indications were that he did not have any political or religious motive.

Heidelberg is located south of Frankfurt and has about 160,000 inhabitants, and its university is one of Germany’s best known.