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Martin Meissner / AP
The mayor of Solingen, Tim Kurzbach, puts a candle at the entrance of the house, where five dead children were found in Solingen, Germany.
A “day of mourning” has seized the German city of Solingen after the apparent murder of five children.
The five children between the ages of 1 and 8 were found dead in an apartment in a western German city on Thursday (Friday NZT), authorities said.
The bodies were found in the city of Solingen, near Cologne and Duesseldorf. The 27-year-old mother of the three girls and two boys later drove to Duesseldorf, which is about 35 kilometers away, and jumped in front of a train.
Martin Meissner / AP
Police secure a street where five dead children were found in an apartment in Solingen.
She survived and was taken to a hospital with injuries, police spokesman Stefan Weiand told n-tv television.
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The dead girls were 1, 2 and 3 years old, and the boys between 6 and 8 years old, the German news agency dpa reported. The mother’s sixth child, an 11-year-old boy, survived and was with relatives.
There was no immediate information on the causes of death or the possible motive. The bodies were found after the children’s grandmother, who lives 60 kilometers away, notified police on Thursday afternoon, said the region’s top security official, Herbert Reul.
Weiand said the children’s mother had been “seriously injured” and was in hospital under police surveillance, the BBC reported.
Andreas Rentz / Getty Images
An SOA forensic police officer walks past a candle and toy animal placed in a mailbox in an apartment building where five children were found dead.
Weiand told WDR broadcaster it was a “tragic situation” and said the mother was not yet in a position to be questioned.
“We are assuming a crime was committed. How and why that happened, we cannot say, ”he said.
“The background and further details are not known at this time and that is what we are trying to find out,” Weiand told the media. He said police investigators were at the scene “in full force.”
Roberto Pfeil / dpa via AP
A policewoman stands in front of the entrance of the house in Solingen, Germany.
Police said they hoped to learn more about the “incredibly tragic event” after speaking with the mother, the BBC reported Weiand said.
The apartment in Solingen has been cordoned off and footage from the scene shows police officers and ambulances lined up on the street. The public has also left flowers and candles at the site.
Roberto Pfeil / dpa via AP
Teddy bears and candles have been placed outside the home in Solingen, Germany.
The mayor of Solingen, Tim Kurzbach, was photographed putting a candle at the entrance of the house in tribute.
On social media, he wrote that he had visited the place where the “terrible act” occurred and described it as “incomprehensible.”
“Today is a day of mourning for all Solingen.”
google maps
Google Maps screenshot of Solingen in Germany.
