Gunman kills one, then self, in German court shooting

LANDSHUT, Germany (Reuters) - A 60-year-old cook shot his sister-in-law, seriously wounded two other people and then killed himself in a courthouse shooting spree in the southern German town of Landshut Tuesday, police said.

The man was embroiled in a legal battle with his in-laws over an inheritance row and suddenly opened fire with a revolver during a break in proceedings in the hallway of the court, state prosecutor Christoph Stroetz said.

He told a news conference the man fired at two other people and then went into an adjacent chamber, where he shot himself.

"One of the participants drew a weapon and shot at several people," police spokesman Leonard Mayer said.

"One woman was fatally injured, two others (a lawyer and a woman) were injured but they are not in critical condition. The assailant went into another room and shot himself."

Officials said there had been a long inheritance dispute over a house involving the victim and her six siblings.

Mayer said there was no warning: "It came out of the blue."

Officials said there was no metal detector because it is an administrative court and not a criminal court.

The shooting took place less than a month after a school massacre in the southwestern town of Winnenden in which a total of 16 people were killed.

Landshut is a town of around 62,000 in southern Bavaria.

(Reporting by Erik Kirschbaum and Madeline Chambers, editing by Angus MacSwan)

Terra/Reuters