A 16-year-old boy was arrested on Wednesday after two 13-year-old girls were seriously wounded in an attack at the Welfen-Gymnasium secondary school in Schongau, a town of some 13,000 inhabitants in Upper Bavaria. According to Bavarian police, the suspect was detained near the school shortly after the incident, which triggered a major emergency response involving more than 150 officers, six helicopters, and crisis intervention teams.

Both victims were taken to hospital with stab wounds; medical sources confirmed their injuries are not life-threatening. Police said the suspect was carrying a knife and a firearm, and that they are proceeding on the assumption he acted alone. Bavaria’s interior minister, Joachim Herrmann, told public broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk that the two girls were stabbed, and that the suspect had previously received psychiatric treatment. Local authorities have not confirmed whether the firearm was discharged, though some German media reported that the pistol malfunctioned after a single shot and was not used to injure anyone.

Conflicting details remain unresolved. While police initially described the suspect simply as a 16-year-old boy, later statements and ministerial briefings indicated he is a former pupil of the school. The exact location of the attack on the school grounds has not been disclosed, and it is unclear whether the assailant and the victims knew each other. A police spokeswoman described the incident as a suspected “rampage” — the term German authorities use for an indiscriminate, homicidal outburst — but stressed that the motive is under investigation.

School attacks are rare in Germany, though the country has experienced several high-profile cases in recent decades, including a 2009 shooting in Winnenden that killed 15 people and a 2002 massacre in Erfurt that left 16 dead. In Schongau, a contact point for parents and relatives was established at the local fire station, and residents were urged to avoid the area. The investigation is ongoing, and authorities have cautioned that the provisional toll may change as more information emerges.