3 Dead, 7 Injured in Swiss Shooting
Three people were left dead after an early morning shooting at a factory near the city of Lucerne in Switzerland. Seven people were also injured, and the shooter is believed to be one of the dead.
Authorities have said that the number of deaths could be higher, but they are still in the preliminary stages of investigating at the factory where 450 people are currently employed. The shooter is believed to have been a factory worker who may have been laid off due to the slowing of production.
"The situation is under control," Lucerne county police spokesman Urs Wigger told CNN. Police have sealed off the factory and the surrounding area in order to ensure that no evidence is lost.
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The factory, a lumber plant, has seen a reduction in productivity due to a reduction in the timber harvest. Layoffs could have led to the fatal shooting, but police have not speculated what may have triggered the attack.
"The workers were eating a snack in the cafeteria during the morning, and there was a massacre," a man who called to check on his father, a factory worker, told the Swiss media.
Switzerland may have one of the highest rates of gun ownership, but attacks such as this are incredibly rare in the country. Domestic homicides and suicides, however, are higher there than anywhere else in Europe, except for Finland, BBC reported.
"It's a terrible tragedy and our thoughts are with the families of the people who have lost their lives," a spokesman for Kronospan, the parent company in the U.K., told CNN.
The massacre in Switzerland comes as the United States is trying to handle its own problem of mass shootings. Vice President Joe Biden has been put in charge of a special committee to deal with gun violence and has offered his suggestions as to how to prevent future massacres. Congress is set to vote on the package of initiatives within the next month.
