The suspect in a chainsaw attack that left two people injured Monday has been arrested, police in northern Switzerland said Tuesday.
Police identified the suspect Monday as 51-year-old Franz Wrousis, a Swiss national with no fixed address who lives in a forest.
The Schaffhausen police department announced the arrest on its website Tuesday night. More information will be provided at a news conference Wednesday morning, the statement said.
The attack began in an insurance office in the historic Swiss town of about 34,000 people near the German border. Police initially said five people were injured and later updated the number to two.
Christina Wettstein, a spokesperson for the insurance company CSS, said two of the company’s employees were injured, one seriously. They underwent surgery and are recovering, she said.
The suspect has a health insurance policy with the company, she said.
“The suspect targeted our company, he wanted to harm our employees,” she said. “But we cannot say exactly what the motive was. All we know is he wanted to harm our employees.”
The attack led to a manhunt in which police sought the public’s help. Schaffhausen police released a photo of Wrousis taken before the incident on CCTV cameras.
Wrousis has been charged twice in the past for having illegal weapons, in 2014 and 2016, but he wasn’t sentenced to prison, Schaffhausen public prosecutor Peter Sticher said Monday.
The incident was a shock to the people of Schaffhausen, said Marco Latzer, a journalist in Schaffhausen.
“It’s kind of a big thing for this town, of course, and many people here are really shocked,” he said. “It’s a very peaceful place … a quiet place, normally.”
