A 43-year-old Swiss man suspected of killing a 22-year-old Italian woman and injuring five others at a rave in Aarau has been reported to have psychological problems, while authorities say the motive remains unclear.
Police officers secure the area next to a poster advertising a rave where a shooting occurred, in Aarau, northern Switzerland, on August 30, 2026. One person was killed and five others were wounded, some of them seriously, in a shooting at a rave party in northern Switzerland, local police said. Photo by HAROLD CUNNINGHAM / AFP
The man suspected of shooting dead an Italian woman at a rave party in Switzerland is suffering from “psychological problems” and has remained silent in custody, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Gunfire erupted in the early hours of Sunday morning as an annual rave was winding down at the racecourse in Aarau, capital of Switzerland’s northern canton of Aargau.
The attack left a 22-year-old Italian woman dead and wounded five others.
A 43-year-old Swiss man handed himself in to police in Delemont, in northwestern Switzerland’s Jura canton.
He is suffering from “psychological problems” and has maintained his silence since his arrest on Monday, the Aargau cantonal prosecutor Christoph Ruedi told a press conference.
The Aargau police said that two pistols and an AK-74 assault rifle were found in the suspect’s vehicle.
Police chief Michael Leupold said the motive for the attack remained unclear, adding that the suspect was not previously known to the police and had no known links to extremist movements.
The police said the shooter acted alone and fired around 40 rounds before fleeing in his vehicle.
Evidence from the crime scene suggests that the shooter fired indiscriminately at the festival site from various positions outside the grounds, they said.
The five survivors hit by gunfire were four Swiss men and a German woman, aged between 24 and 31. They were taken to hospital.
The police said Wednesday that two of them were still in hospital, but their lives are no longer in danger and they should be able to be discharged in the coming days.
Another person has since come forward who sustained a minor injury, possibly from a ricocheting bullet, they added.
And at least one bullet hit a car containing four people as it was driving away.
“All indications suggest that all these people were random victims,” the police said.
Public prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation.
Shootings are rare in Switzerland, despite widespread gun ownership.
The rave organisers said they were “devastated”, saying on their website that “the insidious attack on the guests at the Aarauer Rave has broken our hearts.”
“A rave should always be a place of joy and love. Never a place where people are killed, injured or left in fear.”
