A gunman killed six people Monday in a German youth welfare centre for mothers and their children in what police said was a likely “family tragedy”, before the male suspect and a female companion were arrested.

The deadly shooting spree sparked a major police operation in the northern city of Stade, about 50 kilometres from Hamburg.

The six people killed were all adults, among them one who succumbed to their injuries in hospital, while another person was wounded and in stable condition, a police spokesman told AFP.

“A male principal offender and a female companion” were arrested, he said, while a separate police statement mentioned a third suspect being held.

The police spokesman told AFP that investigators believed “it is not a case of femicide, nor does it involve a political background or anything of that nature. Rather it is an extended family tragedy.”

N24 television cited witnesses as saying that police deployed to the building after an emergency call and spotted two suspects who attempting to flee in a car, leading police to open fire.

One eyewitness told the news site Focus Online that police shouted “stop where you are” at the man and woman attempting to flee, then fired some 10 to 15 rounds at the vehicle.

A separate amateur video clip published by Bild daily showed a police road block stopping a Mercedes passenger car with a blown-out back tyre on a country road nearby.

Officers with guns are then seen shouting at the two occupants to get out and arresting them as they lie face down on the road.

The day of deadly drama led police to shut down the centre of the city of 50,000 people on the Elbe river in Lower-Saxony state. Police helicopters circled the sky above.

‘Chaotic situation’

The shootings took place near a day-care centre and a primary school, said city councillor Carsten Brokelmann, adding that no one there was hurt.

“We are relieved that our staff and the children at the daycare centre and primary school are safe, and I would like to thank the police officers for their efforts in this chaotic situation,” he said in a statement.

“At the same time, our deepest sympathies go out to the victims of this terrible act and their families.”

Germany has some of Europe’s strictest gun laws – they require anyone under 25 to pass a psychiatric exam before applying for a gun licence — and mass shootings are relatively rare.

But they occur from time to time, and Monday’s was among the deadliest in recent times.

In February 2020, a far-right extremist shot dead nine people and wounded five others in the central German city of Hanau.

In March 2023, a disgruntled former Jehovah’s Witness member shot dead six people from the Christian group’s congregation in the German city of Hamburg, before turning the gun on himself.

In May 2022, a 21-year-old gunman opened fire at a secondary school in northern Germany, badly injuring a female member of staff before being arrested.