A horrific violent incident at a secondary school in Gosen-Neu Zittau, a small town located just outside the German capital Berlin, has left two people dead, sending shockwaves across the region. Local media reports have confirmed the identities of the two victims: an 18-year-old female student enrolled at the campus, and a 30-year-old man who lost his life while attempting to stop the attack.
Law enforcement officials from the state of Brandenburg confirmed via social media that they have taken a 19-year-old male suspect into custody shortly after the violence broke out, and investigators have now secured the entire school campus to process forensic evidence. According to regional outlet Maz Online, the suspect is believed to be the former boyfriend of the 18-year-old student victim. Authorities have not yet confirmed whether the suspect is currently or was previously a student at Docemus, the private educational institution where the attack unfolded.
In a statement released after the incident, Michael Kunz, managing director of the Docemus school, announced that all regular classes would be canceled on Friday. “Due to the ongoing investigation, we cannot and will not provide any information regarding the specific circumstances and sequence of events at this time,” Kunz told local reporters. While formal instruction is suspended, Kunz noted that the school building will remain open to any students who wish to gather, to give the school community a safe space to process the tragedy together. “We want to provide them with a safe space where they can come together, talk to each other, and process what has happened,” he said. Kunz added that school administrators will make a deliberate, careful decision in the coming days about when and how to resume normal school operations.
The attack marks the second violent school incident in Germany within just one month. Last month, a separate attack at a secondary school in southern Germany left two teen girls seriously injured, and resulted in the arrest of a 16-year-old suspect.