Man, 60, kills sister-in-law outside court

A MAN opened fire at a courthouse in Bavaria yesterday, killing his sister-in-law and seriously injuring two other people, German officials said. He then shot himself dead.

The shooting happened during a break in a hearing on an inheritance dispute at the administrative court in Landshut, about 75 kilometres north-east of Munich, police said.

The dispute apparently escalated outside the courtroom and the 60-year-old man, from nearby Dingolfing, pulled out a revolver. He shot the woman in the head and she later died of her injuries. Two other people involved in the proceedings, a man and a woman, suffered serious, but not life-threatening, injuries.

The gunman then went into another room and shot himself before emergency services arrived at the scene. “The police did not fire a single shot,” police spokesman Leonhard Mayer said. Investigators said the man had been licensed since 1974 to own three guns, including the revolver he used.