A woman has been left severely injured following a shooting at a school in Bremerhaven, an independent municipality in the state of Bremen in Germany. Police have arrested a suspect. 

Suspect opens fire in Gymnasium in Bremerhaven

In a short message on Twitter, Bremerhaven police said they were conducting a major operation at the Lloyd Gymnasium in the city centre. The alarm was sounded after an armed suspect apparently entered the secondary school and opened fire. The alleged perpetrator was later arrested by police. 

The injured woman was not a student but an adult working in the school’s administration department. She has been taken to hospital where she is receiving treatment for her injuries. A press spokesperson told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that she was not in a critical condition. 

Police operation still underway in Bremerhaven city centre

Police have called on the public to avoid Bürgermeister-Martin-Donandt-Platz and the adjacent areas for the time being, while their investigations are still underway. Special forces are apparently searching the school to rule out the involvement of other perpetrators. Witnesses initially reported hearing gunshots, but this has not been officially confirmed. 

Students are currently being kept in their classrooms with their teachers, while a special hotline has been set up for parents. 

The shooting comes just a few months after a student opened fire in a lecture hall at Heidelberg University, killing one person and injuring several others.