Man who drove van into crowd had no licence for gun

Man shot himself after killing two people with van in Munster incident on Saturday

People arrive to lay flowers and candles at the site of an attack with a van the day before. Photograph: Alexander Koerner/Getty Images
People arrive to lay flowers and candles at the site of an attack with a van the day before. Photograph: Alexander Koerner/Getty Images

A man who drove a van into a crowd in Munster, Germany had no licence for the gun with which he then killed himself, a security official has said.

The 48-year-old German killed two people when he crashed into the crowd outside a popular bar in the western city on Saturday afternoon. He then fatally shot himself in the van.

Herbert Reul, the interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia state, told WDR 5 radio that "he had no weapons licence. It was not a properly acquired weapon".

Police have said that an email sent to a neighbour among others late last month contained “vague indications of suicidal thoughts, but no indications of a danger to other people.”

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They said there was no indication of any political motive.

–PA