On 24 January 2020, six people were killed and two others were wounded in a mass shooting in Rot am See,

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. One suspect, a 26-year-old German citizen, was arrested after reporting himself to the police.

Shooting

The shooting either occurred inside a restaurant or inside a train station and a nearby house. The motive is suspected to be a family dispute. Three men and three women were killed, aged from 36 to 69. The victims were family members of the shooter, including his parents. The shooting happened around 12:45 local time (11:45

UTC Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communica ...

). German authorities on Saturday increased their investigation into the motivation behind the shooting.

Criminologist Criminology (from Latin , 'accusation', and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'', 'word, reason') is the interdisciplinary study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is a multidisciplinary field in both the behaviou ...

and criminal psychologist Rudolf Egg said that the shooter acted impulsively and explosively, ruling out the possibility that the attack was premeditated. The shooter had no prior criminal record. The shooter accused his mother of trying to "poison him with female hormones" and said that she "destroyed his life". There was no evidence supporting the shooter's claims. The shooter also claimed that his mother verbally abused him as a child and resented him for being born male since she wanted a second daughter instead.

Victims

Three of the victims killed were men aged 36, 65 and 69, while the three others were women aged 36, 56 and 62. The police confirmed that two of the deceased were the suspect's parents. Two other victims were alive and being treated in a local hospital, one with life-threatening injuries. Two people were found inside the house, and four people in front of it. The two injured victims were a man and a woman, whom the authorities said were "not locals." Officials were trying to determine what relationship they might have had to the suspect. On the Saturday night after, citizens of Rot am See placed memorial candles for the victims in the place.

Aftermath

The shooter was sentenced to 15 years in prison and placement in a

psychiatric hospital A psychiatric hospital, also known as a mental health hospital, a behavioral health hospital, or an asylum is a specialized medical facility that focuses on the treatment of severe Mental disorder, mental disorders. These institutions cater t ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rot am See shooting, 2020 2020 mass shootings in Europe 21st century in Baden-Württemberg Crime in Baden-Württemberg Familicides January 2020 crimes in Europe January 2020 in Germany Mass shootings in Germany Schwäbisch Hall (district)