A night of music in Aarau ended before dawn with one woman dead and a gunman on the run.
Swiss police have launched a large-scale manhunt after a 22-year-old woman was shot dead and five others wounded at a rave held at a horse racing track in Aarau. The town of approximately 23,000 people is located around 46 kilometres west of Zurich.
The shooting occurred at around 02:30 local time on Sunday morning as a rave continued into the early hours at the Aarau racecourse. The woman died at the scene. The five injured, four men and a woman aged between 24 and 27, were taken to hospital with injuries described as ranging from minor to severe. Police said the identity and possible motive of the perpetrator were unknown, as were the exact circumstances of the shooting.
The area around the racing track, the town swimming pool, and local sports fields was cordoned off, with the public urged to stay away. A large contingent of officers was deployed beyond Aarau as a precaution. An AFP journalist reported sighting armed police on the highway up to 30 kilometres from the shooting site.
Post-Incident Sightings
Images from Aarau showed armoured vehicles blocking roads, armed officers patrolling streets, and riot police deployed across the area. A Swiss Army helicopter was also seen surveying the region in the early hours, according to broadcaster SRF. The regional disaster response unit was additionally called out alongside police and fire officials.
Swiss DJ Tekibo, who was performing at the rave when the shooting occurred, described the incident as “heartbreaking” in an Instagram story. He said he had lost “an important friend” and was “still trying to process what happened.”
Police asked witnesses to submit photographs and video footage from the scene to assist the investigation.
Switzerland has one of the highest rates of civilian gun ownership in Europe. However, violent shootings remain rare and the country has tightened firearms regulations in recent years. The rarity of incidents of this kind makes Sunday morning’s events in Aarau all the more shocking for the country.
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