BERLIN, GERMANY (AP) —
A
47-year-old German gunman shot and killed two people and injured another
in a rampage Friday in the southern state of Bavaria before being
overpowered by two gas station mechanics, authorities said.
"At
the moment there are no indications of any immediate relationships
between the culprit and the victims," said Bavaria's interior minister,
Joachim Herrmann, calling it an "ugly, incomprehensible crime."
Police
were alerted at 10 a.m. that a middle-aged man driving a silver
Mercedes had opened fire on a woman in the town of Tiefenthal, 50
kilometers (31 miles) west of Nuremberg. The 82-year-old woman died at
the scene.
Shortly afterward,
police say the gunman fatally shot a 72-year-old man riding a bicycle
in the nearby town of Rammersdorf. A driver who was threatened by the
suspect gave details of the man's car to police.
The
suspect then fired at a farmer driving a tractor, who was slightly
injured by flying glass, and drove to a gas station in Bad Windsheim, 35
kilometers (20 miles) from the scene of the shootings.
"Shortly before noon,
police were informed that staff at an Esso gas station in Bad Windsheim
had overpowered the man after he threatened them with a weapon," said
Herrmann. "It's thanks to the brave intervention of the gas station
staff that the suspect was stopped."
Prosecutors
said the suspect, a local man identified only as Bernd G. in line with
German privacy rules, showed signs of psychological problems and was
being assessed by a psychiatrist. He had no previous convictions,
prosecutor Gerhard Neuhof said.
G. had permits to own two firearms but not to carry or use them, authorities said.