1. Skip to content
  2. Skip to main menu
  3. Skip to more DW sites

Gunman kills German official

April 26, 2013

A gunman has shot and killed District Administrator Rüdiger Butte in his office in the north German town of Hamelin. The unknown assailant then turned the weapon on himself.

https://p.dw.com/p/18NoG
Rüdiger Butte,
Image: picture-alliance/dpa

Witnesses reported gunfire Friday at the office building in Hamelin, located in the state of Lower Saxony, at around 10:30 local time (08:30 UTC).

"The perpetrator killed District Administrator Rüdiger Butte and then killed himself," a police spokesman said.

Motives for the act remain unclear, as does the identity of the assailant, although German news agency DPA described him as an older man.

Butte (pictured above), 63, was elected as district administrator of Hamelin-Pyrmont in 2005. He had previously served as the head of the State Crime Investigations Office in Lower Saxony for four years.

ccp/dr (dpa, AFP)