Four people found dead at German care home, employee detained

Victims reported to be residents of facility that cares for people with serious disabilities

German police stand in front of the Oberlin care clinic in Potsdam, eastern Germany, after an attack in which four people were found dead and one person seriously wounded. Photograph: Odd Andersen/AFP via Getty
German police stand in front of the Oberlin care clinic in Potsdam, eastern Germany, after an attack in which four people were found dead and one person seriously wounded. Photograph: Odd Andersen/AFP via Getty

A woman has been detained after four people were found dead at a hospital in the eastern city of Potsdam, Germany, police said.

The 51-year-old woman detained on suspicion of killing the four people is an employee at the clinic.

Officers called to the Oberlin Clinic shortly before 9pm on Wednesday and found the victims and a fifth person who was seriously injured in patient rooms, Brandenburg state police said.

"The victims showed signs of significant external violence," police spokesman Thorsten Herbst said.

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Police were still investigating the exact circumstances but said the detained woman was “urgently suspected” of the killings.

Local newspaper Potsdamer Neueste Nachrichten reported the victims were residents of the Thusnelda von Saldern House, which cares for people with serious disabilities.

Potsdam is on the southwestern edge of the German capital, Berlin. – Associated Press