BERLIN -- A shooting at a Mercedes-Benz plant in Sindelfingen in southwestern Germany left two men dead on Thursday.
Police arrested the suspect, a 53-year-old man, who opened fire on the victims before security workers held him down and handed him over to authorities, police and the local prosecutor's office said in a statement. The victims, both 44, died of their injuries, they said.
Production at one of the factory halls was suspended until the end of the week, Mercedes said. The automaker builds its flagship S-Class and EQS sedans at the site, which is near Stuttgart.
"Otherwise, operations in the plant continue on schedule," a Mercedes spokesperson said.
The factory, which has a workforce of 35,000, was evacuated following the shooting, which took place after the suspect entered the site at 7:45 a.m. local time.
The victims and the suspect were employees of an external service provider, Mercedes said, without providing further details on their roles.
"We are deeply shocked and saddened by the tragic news from Sindelfingen this morning. Our thoughts are with the victims, their families and all colleagues on site," Mercedes said.
Sindelfingen is one of Mercedes’ largest factories worldwide.
Auto factories in Germany are well-secured, with entry highly controlled. Incidents of any kind are extremely rare.
The German government has said it will tighten its gun laws further after a gunman opened fire on people gathered in a Jehovah's Witnesses hall in Hamburg in March, killing six.
Germany outlawed certain large magazines in 2020 and conducts five-yearly checks on gun owners to ascertain whether their possession of a weapon is justified.
According to government data, there are over 940,000 registered private gun owners in Germany, which has a population of 84 million people.
Bloomberg contributed to this report