At least one person has died and five have been injured, some seriously, in a shooting that took place in the early hours of this Sunday at the Schachen racetrack in the Swiss city of Aarau. The incident occurred during an electronic music party known as “Aarauer Rave.” According to information from the Argovia cantonal police, in northern Switzerland, the shots were fired shortly before three in the morning, in the midst of an event that had gathered several thousand attendees since Saturday afternoon. The perpetrator managed to flee the racetrack where the party was being held.
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According to initial police reports, the shots were fired at a time when a large number of people were gathered in the venue. The festival organizers expected around 2,500 attendees, although local media raise the number of participants throughout the event to about 3,500 people. The cantonal police deployed a large number of officers, ambulances, and firefighters in the area, and declared what they called a “special situation.” As a precautionary measure, the municipal swimming pool near the venue remains closed and access to the racetrack and the adjacent sports area is blocked.
More than 3,000 people at the party
The shooter remains at large
At the moment, the identity of the shooter or shooters, as well as the motive for the attack, is unknown. A police spokesperson said that the search for the responsible party, still unidentified, is progressing “at full speed,” and the police have asked anyone with videos or photographs of the incident to send them to their official channels. As an additional measure, authorities have increased police presence in all areas near the city of Aarau, amid uncertainty about the whereabouts of the attacker. Aarau has about 22,300 inhabitants and is located 46 km (28.5 miles) west of Zurich.
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Security forces have deployed a large operation, including an Army helicopter, and have asked the public to avoid the racetrack area and particularly a nearby public swimming pool, which is very busy during this season on weekends, while they carry out their search for the person responsible for the shooting. The chain of events, as well as the possible motives for the incident, remain under investigation. Authorities have not specified whether it was a single shooter or multiple people involved, and do not rule out that there may be more victims of varying severity.
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