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Five people injured have been injured in the Switzerland town of Schaffhausen in an attack by an unidentified man wielding a chainsaw. Two of the injured are in serious condition.
According to police spokeswoman Cindy Beer, the town has been locked down, and police and ambulances are on the scene and rescue helicopters are circling overhead.
At a news conference, police said the attacker was on the run, and a large number of officers had been deployed in the area. While the suspect has been identified, he currently remains at large. Police are currently searching for the suspect, who is being described as being 6′ 2″ tall, with an unkempt appearance, and is believed to be driving a white Volkswagen van.
Police have confirmed that the attack was not terror related.
via The Sun:
Footage shows panicked shoppers watching as cops seal off the cobbled streets of the town centre. Local news site Blick reports accounts from locals saying an elderly man with severe head wounds was rushed in an ambulance to hospital.
Another eyewitness claimed to see at least two people being treated. A shoe shop worker said one of their customers was among the injured, adding: “Nobody can leave the stores anymore.”
Schaffhausen police confirmed they were involved in a “special situation” and are hunting for a suspect.At least five people were injured with two in a serious condition, spokesperson Cindy Beer added.
About Schaffhausen
Schaffhausen is a town with historic roots, a municipality in northern Switzerland, and the capital of the canton of the same name; it has an estimated population of 36,000 as of December 2016. It is located right next to the shore of the High Rhine; it is one of four Swiss towns – besides Neuhausen a. Rhf., the historic Neunkirch and Stein a. Rh. – that is located on the northern side of the Rhine.
The old portion of the town has many fine Renaissance era buildings decorated with exterior frescos and sculpture, as well as the impressive old canton fortress, the Munot. Schaffhausen is also a railway junction of Swiss and German rail networks. One of the lines connects the town with the nearby Rhine Falls in Neuhausen am Rheinfall, Europe’s largest waterfall, a tourist attraction.
The official language of Schaffhausen is (the Swiss variety of Standard) German, but the main spoken language is the local variant of the Alemannic Swiss German dialect.
