A 22-year-old woman was killed and five other people were wounded early Sunday when shots were fired at a Swiss rave in Aarau, forcing police into a large-scale search for whoever opened fire. Aargau cantonal police said the woman died at the scene.
The shooting happened at the Aarau Rave VOL. 7 in the Schachen area of Aarau, where the event was being held at a horse-racing track. Four men and one other woman, all residents of Switzerland and between 24 and 27 years old, were taken to hospitals with injuries ranging from minor to serious.
Pascal Wenzel told SRF that authorities were alerted shortly after 2:30 a.m., even though the event had been scheduled to end at 2 a.m. That gap sharpened the questions around what unfolded in the final stretch of the night and why gunfire erupted at a public event that was supposed to be over.
Police said the perpetrator or perpetrators remained unidentified and that possible motives and the circumstances were still unclear. A large area around the horse-racing track, swimming pool and nearby sports field was cordoned off, police increased their presence elsewhere in Aarau, and members of the public were told to stay away while investigators asked witnesses for videos or photographs from the event.
The response drew in police officers, firefighters, several emergency medical services, a cantonal disaster-response unit, The Argus police special unit and a Swiss military Super Puma helicopter. Police in neighboring Germany were also helping with the search as part of routine cross-border cooperation, while relatives and eyewitnesses were directed to an information line.
For now, the only certainty is that the night ended in death, injuries and a widening search for answers. The next breakthrough will have to come from the unidentified gunman or gunmen, or from the footage and witness accounts police are now trying to collect.
