One person killed, five injured at techno event in Aarau

Police said the suspect arrested after the rave shooting in Switzerland is a 43-year-old Swiss man. At a techno event on Sunday at the Schachen horse-racing track in Aarau, 22-year-old Italian woman Maria Spinelli died at the scene.

Organizers had expected 3,500 people to attend the event at the site, about 46 kilometers west of Zurich. Police said they received reports of gunshots at around 02:30 local time.

  • The injured, who were taken to hospital, included four men and one woman aged between 24 and 27.
  • Authorities said the injuries ranged from minor to serious.

An eyewitness speaking to the Swiss press said he heard gunshots a few minutes after the music stopped and initially thought they were fireworks. The same witness said that two people, a man and a woman, told him to hide, and that the woman was later shot.

Arrest operation ended in about 24 hours

The Aarau cantonal police said the suspect was detained shortly before 01:00 local time on Monday after the search launched following the attack. That brought to an end a search operation that had lasted nearly 24 hours.

In its first briefing on Sunday afternoon, police said there was no clear lead on the attacker or attackers, and that it was not known whether the shooting had been carried out by one person or more than one.

What is police's initial assessment?

Authorities said the investigation into the full sequence of events, the background and the possible motive is continuing. In a police statement, officials said that at this stage they are "assuming the offender acted alone".

Statements from Italian and Swiss authorities

Giorgia Meloni said she was confident Swiss authorities would clarify every aspect of the case and find those responsible. Italy's Foreign Ministry also said it had sent officials to Zurich to closely follow the investigation.

Aarau, home to about 23,000 people, is less than 40 kilometers from the German border. Local media also reported that German police were supporting Swiss security forces.

Switzerland is among the European countries with relatively high levels of private gun ownership. Even so, violent shootings are rare in the country, and controls have been tightened in recent years. The country's last major shooting was the 2001 attack in Zug, where 14 people from the local parliament and government were killed.