BERLIN: A shooting at a Mercedes-Benz plant in the city of Sindelfingen in south-western Germany left two men dead on Thursday, mounting pressure on Berlin to tighten the country’s already-strict gun laws.

Police arrested the suspect, a 53-year-old man, who opened fire on the victims before security workers at the site, some 17 km of Stuttgart, held him down and handed him over to authorities, police and the local prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

The victims, both 44, died of their injuries, they said.

Production at one of the company’s factory halls in Sindelfingen was suspended until the end of the week, an spokesperson for the automobile firm said.

“Otherwise, operations in the plant continue on schedule,” the spokesperson said of Sindelfingen, where the company’s flagship S-Class luxury sedan is produced.

The gunman and the two victims belonged to an external services provider, the company said, without providing further details on their roles.

The incident was the latest of a number of mass shootings in Germany in recent years, many of which had a connection with extremism. Invest­igators have yet to establish a motive for Thursday’s shooting.

Published in Dawn, May 12th, 2023