The 21-year-old man who seriously injured a school worker in a Bremerhaven high school on Thursday shot with a crossbow. The murder weapon was found when he was arrested, said chief prosecutor Oliver Constien in the evening.

Investigators also seized a pistol and two knives. The public prosecutor’s office is investigating the suspect for attempted murder. The man was to be brought before a magistrate on Thursday evening. The man has been silent about the fact so far.

Constien said investigators searched multiple properties around the suspect to gain insight into the motive. The relationship between the young man and the school and the victim has yet to be determined. The investigators assume a single perpetrator.

The man entered the school building around 9:15 a.m. on Thursday and seriously injured an older school worker. A short time later he was arrested near the scene of the crime.

At the time of the crime, around 140 students and teachers were in the school, said school head Michael Frost. Initially, it was said that 200 students were stuck in the building. The students of the affected Lloyd-Gymnasium (upper level) on Grazer Straße in Bremerhaven-Mitte initially stayed with their teachers in their classrooms after the crime.

The officials had previously called on the population to avoid Mayor Martin Donandt Square and the adjacent streets. Special forces searched the school.