A suspect has been arrested following a shooting at a Mercedes-Benz plant in southwest Germany that left two dead on Thursday, ratcheting up pressure on Germany to tighten its already strict gun laws.

The suspect was identified as a 53-year-old man.

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A man kills seven people and leaves eight wounded in a shooting at a Jehovah's Witness church in Hamburg

  • Writing: CARMEN VALERO BERLIN

A man kills seven people and leaves eight wounded in a shooting at a Jehovah's Witness church in Hamburg

Event.

One wounded in a shooting at a German school

  • Writing: REUTERS / AFP Berlin

One wounded in a shooting at a German school

Mercedes-Benz said two people had died. The Stuttgart prosecutor confirmed that a second person had died and said no one else had been injured.

"One person is in police custody. The people are employees of a third-party service provider," Mercedes said in a statement.

Investigators are hypothesizing that there was a single perpetrator in the shooting and that no one outside the factory was involved, a spokesman for the prosecutor's office said.

The incident was the latest in a series of mass shootings in Germany in recent years, many of them related to extremism.

The German government had vowed to further tighten its gun laws after a gunman opened fire on people gathered in a Jehovah's Witness hall in Hamburg in March, killing six people.

Germany banned certain large magazines in 2020 and conducts five-year checks on gun owners to check whether their possession is justified.

Mercedes-Benz produces its flagship S-Class luxury sedan at the Sindelfingen plant, located about 17 kilometers southwest of Stuttgart. About 35,000 people work at the centre.

Mercedes said there was no longer any danger to the local population or her colleagues in Sindelfingen.

"We are deeply shocked and saddened by this morning's tragic news in Sindelfingen. Our thoughts are with the victims, their families and all colleagues at the scene," he said in a statement.

Police and emergency services remain at the scene. Emergency services received the first warning of the incident at 7.45 am (05.45 GMT).

In 2012, a shooting at a 3M technology company factory in the western German city of Hilden left one dead and four wounded.

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