A day after a shooting spree at a youth welfare facility in Stade west of Hamburg that killed six social service employees, the local court issued a formal arrest warrant on Tuesday for the 45-year-old suspect.
Based on its assessment of the incident, which included aggravating factors of particular treachery and motive, the public prosecutor's office suspects the man of six counts of murder, it said in a statement.
The accused, a Turkish citizen who was born in Germany, was taken to prison where he will be held.
Forensic experts and investigators are working intensively to flesh out the circumstances of Monday's shooting that left four women and two men dead at a residential home for mothers and children in what police believe was an attack linked to a custody dispute.
Authorities said three employees of the regional youth welfare office were killed alongside staff members from the facility. According to initial findings, all six victims had an appointment with the alleged perpetrator to discuss custody of the man's 3-month-old daughter.
During a care plan meeting with several members of staff from the facility and the youth welfare office of the Hanover region, he is said to have suddenly shot at the employees with the firearm he had brought with him in order to kill them, according to the police statement.
Emergency services found four people dead at the scene. They attempted, unsuccessfully, to resuscitate another person there, while the sixth victim died in hospital.
Contrary to earlier reports, there were no further injuries, police said. The two people initially reported as injured were those later confirmed dead, a spokeswoman said.
The suspect attempted to flee in a car driven by a 65-year-old woman before being stopped and detained shortly after the incident.
According to the current status of the investigation, the woman has close ties to the suspect's family. She was also questioned by the police, but the public prosecutor's office did not apply for pre-trial detention, and she was released from police custody.
The police have not yet disclosed what type of firearm was used in the incident, or how the perpetrator obtained it. The authorities said the 45-year-old does not hold a firearms licence.
Police said the suspect was known to them but, according to Lüneburg's chief of police, Kathrin Schuol, he was not considered "extremely violent."
The 34-year-old mother of the child and her 3-month-old daughter - the suspect's child - were unharmed during the incident. The police interviewed the woman, whilst the baby was placed in the care of the youth welfare office, and she has since been released.
Politicians and organizations expressed their condolences after the incident, with Chancellor Friedrich Merz writing on X that the news was "profoundly shocking."
A prayer service is scheduled for Tuesday evening at St Wilhadi's Protestant Church in the centre of Stade. "I am deeply shaken by the act of violence in our town," Bishop Sabine Preuschoff said in a statement.
