Gunman kills four people and himself after ‘family dispute’ in Switzerland

A gunman killed three relatives and a neighbour in a late-night rampage in a Swiss village before turning his weapon on himself, local police said on Sunday. The presumed killer, a 36-year-old Swiss national who was separated from his wife and the couple’s three children, shot dead his father-in-law, mother-in-law and brother-in-law, police told a news conference. The killings took place late on Saturday in and around a residential building in Wuerenlingen, a community of some 4,500 people north-west of Zurich.

An exceptionally terrible crime, atypical for such a tranquil residential area.

Police spokesman Bernard Graser

Police said the gunman lived in another part of Switzerland and was known to police for violent behaviour. The murder weapon was unregistered, they said. The suspected attacker first killed three people - a 58-year-old man, a 57-year-old woman and a 32-year-old man - in a house, criminal police official Markus Gisin said. He is then believed to have killed a 46-year-old neighbour outside the house before shooting himself. The suspected attacker lived in Schwyz canton (state), south of Zurich. All were Swiss nationals. The assailant’s wife and three children were not targeted in the shooting. A neighbour, who was not identified, told Swiss newspaper Blick she heard four shots in succession fired very quickly, then two further shots after a pause. She had heard no screams, the tabloid reported.

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