In front of a well-stocked fast-food restaurant in Oberhausen, a dispute between two groups suddenly escalated on Saturday evening and shots were fired. Three people were injured - one man so badly that he was initially in mortal danger. The suspected shooter was still at large as of Sunday night. The man is wanted.

Initially, there was a physical altercation, the investigators said on Sunday. Then a 51-year-old is said to have fired with a sharp gun at the outdoor meeting. A 49-year-old suffered a life-threatening shot in the stomach. A 47-year-old woman was shot in the leg and a 28-year-old man in the arm. According to initial reports, the suspected shooter fled in a car. Rescue workers took the injured to hospitals.

The investigators assume that the injured are not accidental victims, but that a meeting was arranged - and that more people were involved on both sides. It may have been about business matters, a spokeswoman for the public prosecutor's office said on Sunday. How many people exactly met in the outdoor area of ​​​​the fast food restaurant was therefore still unclear on Sunday.

The search for the shooter is ongoing

According to their own statements, the investigators secured recordings from surveillance cameras, which should provide further insight into the course of the crime. The 49-year-old was no longer in mortal danger after an emergency operation, as the public prosecutor and the police announced on Sunday.

Just two and a half hours after the shots were fired in the Ruhr area city of Oberhausen, police officers provisionally arrested a 40-year-old man in Gelsenkirchen. He is said to have been present at the act but not shot. He was still in police custody on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the search for the suspected shooter continued at full speed. The 51-year-old suspect lives in Essen and, according to the public prosecutor, has Turkish citizenship. During a search, officers did not find the person they were looking for. The public prosecutor's office did not initially provide any further information about the firearm.

A homicide commission is now publicly looking for a photo of the 51-year-old suspected shooter. The Essen police will receive information about his whereabouts on 0201 8290. The police appealed not to speak to the suspect. He could still be armed.

During the shots in a very busy place in Oberhausen, there were apparently many people nearby, including pedestrians. Officials spoke to a number of people on Saturday evening in a bus specially provided for this purpose, as a dpa photographer reported. Pastors are also said to have been on site. Some people told the dpa photographer that they were shocked by the events that had taken place nearby.