2010 Lörrach hospital shooting

The 2010 Lörrach hospital shooting rampage occurred on 19 September 2010 in the small town of Lörrach, Germany near the Swiss border.[5][6] Sabine Radmacher, a 41-year-old woman, killed her five-year-old son and the boy's father, her ex-partner. She then crossed the street to St. Elisabethen Hospital, where she shot and stabbed one nurse, killing him, and also injuring eighteen others, including a police officer.[7] Soon after, the woman was fatally shot by special police units.

Lörrach hospital shooting
Crime scene at St. Elisabethen-Krankenhaus Hospital (20 September 2010)
LocationSt. Elisabethen-Krankenhaus Hospital
Lörrach, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Date19 September 2010
c. 6:00 p.m.-c. 6:15 p.m. (UTC+2)
Attack type
Mass shooting, arson, stabbing, shooting spree, police shootout, familicide
Weapons
Deaths4[2] (including the perpetrator)[3]
Injured18
PerpetratorSabine Radmacher[4]
MotivePresumably neighbor/custody disputes

Background

In March 2009, a similar gun rampage had occurred in nearby Winnenden, when teenage gunman Tim Kretschmer killed twelve people at his former school before killing three civilians and then committing suicide in Wendlingen.[8] The incident triggered off a debate in Germany on tougher gun ownership laws. On 16 September 2010 – only three days before the Lörrach rampage – the boy's father had to appear in court on a charge of failure to securely store his gun.[9]

The killing spree
The attack location

The hospital rampage took place at around 6:00 p.m. local time at the Catholic St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Lörrach, a town close to the Swiss and French borders. A female lawyer smothered her five-year-old son and then shot and stabbed the boy's father, her ex-partner. She then set fire to the flat, eventually causing an explosion. She then crossed the street to St. Elisabethen Hospital and entered the Gynaecology Ward, where she stabbed and shot a nurse, killing him instantly. Eighteen people, including a police officer who happened to be at the hospital, were also shot and wounded. When the emergency services arrived fifteen minutes later, police exchanged fire with the shooter and fatally shot her.[7][10]

It was revealed by the police that the woman, identified as 41-year-old Sabine Radmacher, was believed to have been involved in an incident earlier on the same day in a nearby building. According to reports, she was seen leaving a burning apartment block opposite the hospital, with a gun in her hand, where two people had lost their lives in an explosion. The police announced that a child was among the two who had been killed.[8][10] Radmacher was also described as a sporting markswoman and had used a .22 calibre Walther GSP during the rampage.[10]

References
  1. Königsdisziplin der Lobbyisten, Süddeutsche Zeitung (22 September 2010)
  2. "Several killed in hospital shooting in Lörrach". The Local. The Local Europe AB. 19 September 2010. Archived from the original on 21 September 2010. Retrieved 19 September 2010.
  3. "Woman opens fire in German towm, Four killed". euronews. 19 September 2010. Retrieved 19 September 2010.
  4. "Killer Attorney strangled her son" (in Danish). Ekstra Bladet. Retrieved 23 September 2010.
  5. "Lörrach: Amoklauf war Beziehungstat". Heute.de (in German). ZDF. 19 September 2010. Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 19 September 2010.
  6. Hall, Allan (19 September 2010). "Woman opens fire in deadly German hospital attack". Telegraph Online. Archived from the original on 22 September 2010. Retrieved 19 September 2010.
  7. "Autopsy reveals Lörrach woman smothered son". The Local. 21 September 2010. Archived from the original on 23 September 2010. Retrieved 21 September 2010.
  8. "Woman opens fire in German town". Reuters UK. Thomson Reuters. 19 September 2010. Archived from the original on 21 September 2010. Retrieved 19 September 2010.
  9. "German father on trial over son's deadly shooting spree". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. 16 September 2010. Archived from the original on 19 September 2010. Retrieved 19 September 2010.
  10. "Fatal shooting at German hospital". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. 19 September 2010. Archived from the original on 20 September 2010. Retrieved 19 September 2010.
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