An unknown assailant shot several times at a local politician at his home on a farm in Hattenhofen near Stuttgart on Sunday morning.

According to the local police and the public prosecutor’s office, the politician – named by the Südwest-Presse as FDP district councillor Georg Gallus junior – has undergone surgery, but his life is not in danger.

Initial reports from the police and the public prosecutor’s office state that the shots were probably “fired at the man from outside through a window”. Investigators have asked witnesses to come forward with any information.

Motives unclear

So far, it is unclear whether the shooting was politically motivated, or whether there was an entirely different reason behind the attack. As of Monday, there were no signs of who the assailant might be. 

A special commission is investigating possible links to other shootings in the region. On Friday evening, an unknown perpetrator fired shots outside a restaurant in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen, injuring a man. There were also recent shootings by unknown assailants in Plochingen and Eislingen.

The local community of Hattenhofen has been left shocked by the attack. 

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“The people here are stunned and horrified, but they have also become pensive and frightened,” Jochen Reutter, the mayor of the community of about 3,000 inhabitants in the district of Göppingen, told DPA.

Göppingen’s District Administrator Edgar Wolff also expressed his “deepest concern and shock at this act of violence” in a letter to the members of the district council.

FDP faction leader Hans-Ulrich Rülke told the German Press Agency: “I am horrified by the terrible news” and said that his thoughts were with the local politician and his family.