Mass shooting suspect kills himself in German jail weeks after massacre that left six dead at shelter for mothers

By PERKIN AMALARAJ, FOREIGN NEWS REPORTER Published: 15:24, 21 July 2026 | Updated: 15:27, 21 July 2026 A man suspected of fatally shooting six child welfare workers at a shelter for mothers in Stade in northern Germany last month died by suicide in jail on Tuesday.  The suspect, who has been partially identified in German media as 45-year-old Fatih Khan G., was found dead by jail staff in his single cell early Tuesday, the Lower Saxony state justice ministry said in a statement. The ministry said there are 'currently no indications of third-party involvement' in the suspect's death at the jail, and that both his relatives and the relatives of the shooting victims had been informed. Four women and two men were killed in the shooting on June 29 at a shelter for mothers and their children in the northern town of Stade. The mass shooting is among the worst such crimes in recent German history. The suspected gunman had arrived at the centre on June 29 for an appointment to discuss future care arrangements for his three-month-old daughter.  Authorities said the man suddenly pulled out a firearm and opened fire on child welfare workers, with the local police chief saying the victims were killed 'in a brutal manner'. A seventh person was wounded but survived. Both the child and her 34-year-old mother were at the centre at the time of the shootings but were unharmed. Forensic Police officers go in a housing centre for pregnant women where a shooting took place in Stade, northern Germany, on June 29, 2026 Police and rescuers work at the scene where several people were killed in a shooting in Stade, northern Germany, a city some 50 kilometres west of Hamburg, on June 29, 2026  The suspected gunman tried to flee in a car driven by a 65-year-old woman – described by police as having 'a close connection to the gunman's family' – but was captured after a short chase. Police officers opened fire on the car but neither the gunman nor the driver was hurt, according to the police chief.  Footage shared by Bild at the time appeared to show the moment two of the people involved were caught fleeing by police. An adult was seen falling out of a stopped grey car as a second person was being detained by armed police.  Photos from the scene show a grey Mercedes with at least one of its tyres blown out.  The back-right tyre was shredded, and the car was surrounded by several police.  An eyewitness told Focus, a German news magazine, at the time that they heard police fire shots at a man and a woman who appeared to be attempting to flee the scene in a car.  One officer reportedly shouted at the car's inhabitants: 'Stop, stay put!'  When the car did not stop, police fired up to 15 rounds. Police were then heard saying there had been shots to the 'chest' and 'head', though it is not clear whether these were in reference to the alleged perpetrators or the victims.  The magazine Der Spiegel, citing unnamed sources, reported that the man had been previously accused of shaking the three-month-old girl. Doctors had reportedly found injuries to the girl consistent with shaking. The suspect allegedly then made threats against doctors at the medical centre where the girl had been treated, triggering a police investigation that was later dropped.  Photos from the scene show a grey Mercedes with at least one of its tyres blown out Your browser does not support iframes. Germany has some of Europe's strictest gun laws - they require anyone under 25 to pass a psychiatric exam before applying for a gun licence - and mass shootings are relatively rare. But they occur from time to time, and June's was among the deadliest in recent times. Earlier this year, a pair of shootings in Berlin and Strullendorf saw a total of four people die and four people get injured.  The January shooting in Berlin saw four people get wounded during a family dispute in the centre of the city.   In February 2020, a far-right extremist shot dead nine people and wounded five others in the central German city of Hanau. In March 2023 a disgruntled former Jehovah's Witness member shot dead six people from the Christian group's congregation in the German city of Hamburg, before turning the gun on himself. In May 2022 a 21-year-old gunman opened fire at a secondary school in northern Germany, badly injuring a female member of staff before being arrested. And in February, a man shot and killed his wife and two children, before turning the gun on himself, in the Bavarian city of Strullendorf.