Police said on Sunday that a 22-year-old woman was killed and five other people injured after one or more assailants opened fire at a rave in northern Switzerland.
Four men and another woman, aged between 24 and 27, suffered injuries ranging from minor to serious, police in the Swiss canton of Aargau said. All six victims were residents of Switzerland.
Numerous shots were fired early on Sunday at the rave on the grounds of the Aargau Racing Club in the town of Aarau.
Police said the motive remained unclear and that they were conducting an intensive search for the perpetrator or perpetrators.
Possible motives include a targeted settling of scores or a broader attack, a police spokesman said on Sunday afternoon. However, he said the timing appeared to weigh against the latter possibility.
The event, which ran from Saturday afternoon until 2 am on Sunday, had already ended and only around 100 people were believed to have remained at the venue, the spokesman said.
Police received the first emergency calls at around 2:30 am (0030 GMT) and deployed a large number of officers to the scene.
The area remained extensively cordoned off on Sunday, although police said this was primarily to preserve evidence rather than because of an immediate danger to the public.
Authorities appealed for witnesses to submit video and photographic material.
Thousands expected at rave
Organizers had expected around 3,500 people at the Aarauer Rave, a long-established event held on the grounds of the Aargau Racing Club.
The event had been promoted in advance as the “largest rave in north-western Switzerland.”
The racing club expressed its condolences to the victims’ families.
The party “was overshadowed by a serious incident,” the club said in a statement, adding that emergency services had been immediately alerted.
Witnesses thought shots were fireworks
Several witnesses told Swiss newspaper Blick that revellers initially mistook the burst of gunfire for fireworks.
One woman said someone then shouted “Everybody down!” and her group hid beneath the DJ booth. A woman was struck by a bullet, she said.
“It was terrible,” the witness told Blick.
Those still at the rave were taken by police to a nearby gymnasium.
DJ Tekibo, who was performing at the event, described what had happened as “absolutely heartbreaking” in an Instagram story.
“Techno and raves are supposed to be a place for freedom and safety,” he wrote, adding that he had “lost an important friend” and would withdraw from performing for a period of time.
German police join search
Police across the border in Germany were also involved in the wider search operation following the shooting.
A spokesman for police in Freiburg described the cross-border involvement as routine but gave no details of the specific measures being taken.
Aargau borders Germany, and a police spokesman said the German border could be reached from Aarau in around 40 minutes. Aarau lies about 40 kilometres west of Zurich.
By Matthias Röder, dpa
