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Two killed, one arrested, at school near Berlin: police / Photo: © AFP
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Two killed, one arrested, at school near Berlin: police
Two people were killed at a school near Berlin and a suspect arrested, police said Thursday, with local media saying the victims were an 18-year-old woman student and a 30-year-old man.
Police said in a statement that they received several phonecalls at around 1:45 pm local time (1145 GMT) about the incident at a secondary school in the town of Gosen-Neu Zittau, set in a forested area just outside the German capital in Brandenburg state.
"Two fatally injured people were found at the scene," police said, adding that they currently believe the incident was "linked to a relationship, not a random act".
They confirmed that a 19-year-old German man had been arrested and was "strongly suspected" of being responsible.
The Maerkische Allgemeine Zeitung (MAZ) newspaper reported online that he was the ex-boyfriend of the woman killed, citing sources close to the investigation.
It said the 30-year-old man was believed to have died while trying to intervene, without specifying whether a knife or other weapon had been used.
The speaker of Brandenburg's regional parliament Ulrike Liedtke called the incident a "cowardly femicide".
"The fact that we once again had to witness deadly violence against a woman fills me with deep sorrow and anger.
"I am shaken that a citizen who showed moral courage and wanted to help also lost his life in this terrible act," Liedtke said.
State premier Dietmar Woidke said: "Our schools should be a safe haven for our young people. Here, a school has become the scene of an unimaginable act of violence."
Images from the streets near the secondary school showed multiple emergency service vehicles. Two rescue helicopters were also deployed.
The private Docemus school said that while regular classes would be cancelled Friday, the school "will remain open to any students who wish to come to the campus", the MAZ said.
"Together with our staff and professional support personnel, we want to provide them with a safe space where they can gather, talk to one another and process what has happened together."
Last month, two girls were seriously wounded and a 16-year-old suspect was arrested after an attack at a secondary school in southern Germany.
Authorities said at the time that the suspect in that attack had been suffering a "mental health emergency".
A. Walsh--BTZ
