Heidelberg University shooting leaves 1 dead, 3 injured

Recommendations in case you find yourself in the middle of a firefight 2:15

(CNN) –– One victim was killed during the shooting at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, the city’s chief prosecutor Andreas Herrgen said during a news conference on Monday. Three other people were injured in the incident.

The victim who died is a 23-year-old German student, Mannheim Police Director Siegfried Kollmar said. The three injured people are also German female students.

Another bystander, an Italian-German, was slightly injured in the shooting, police said. At the time of the attack, 30 people were in the auditorium.

The attacker, believed to have acted alone, was also killed. According to police, the 18-year-old perpetrator had two rifles that he fired multiple times.

The man then ran off and took his own life, Kollmar reported.

The attacker lived in Mannheim, according to the police official, adding that his home premises were searched. Authorities did not know him, the chief prosecutor added. And he pointed out that, as far as the authorities know, the perpetrator did not have a weapons license. Police said he bought the rifles abroad.

Immediately before the shooting, the assailant sent a WhatsApp message saying that “people should be punished” and that he did not want to be buried in a cemetery but in the sea, according to police.

Shortly following the shooting, a police spokesman told CNN the perpetrator was a “young man.”

Initially, a large-scale police operation was reported to be taking place in the city of Heidelberg, in southwestern Germany. “Police and emergency services are on the scene,” the agency added at the time.

Mannheim police said 400 police officers arrived on the scene following the incident.

With information from Stephanie Halasz and Nina Avramova