Swiss police arrest suspected gunman after 2 killed

Swiss police on Monday arrested a suspected gunman who killed two people and injured another in the southern town of Sion.

A massive police operation had been underway for hours to find the 36-year-old man behind the mass shooting, a rare event in the wealthy Alpine nation.

Regional police “arrested the suspected gunman at 3:43 pm (0243 GMT) in the St-Leonard area,” the Valais canton police said in a statement.

Police said he fired shots at people in two distinct locations in the picturesque town in the Alpine Wallis region shortly before 8 am (0700 GMT).

The first victim was a 34-year-old woman whom the shooter had allegedly harassed “on several occasions to have a relationship,” the regional daily Le Nouvelliste reported, adding that legal proceedings had been opened in the matter.

The second was a 41-year-old man who was a manager of a local company where the gunman had worked, the newspaper said. The suspect also wounded a 49-year-old secretary at the same company.

Numerous heavily-armed police earlier in the day had been patrolling the highway into Sion and scouring the town for man, whom they described as “dangerous”.

The Wallis public prosecutor’s office said it has launched a murder investigation.