Swiss Authorities on a Manhunt After A Man Attacks Five People with a Chainsaw

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SCHAFFHAUSEN –  An unkempt man armed with a chainsaw wounded five people Monday at an office building in the northern Swiss city of Schaffhausen and then fled, police said. A manhunt was on for him.

Police were alerted to the attack at 10:39 a.m. (0839 GMT). Five people were taken to the hospital, two of them with serious injuries, police said.

Police warned “the suspect is dangerous” but added “this case is not a terrorist act.” They said it wasn’t clear whether he still had the chainsaw.

A rescue helicopter was brought in to help the victims and the old town in Schaffhausen was sealed off.

By Monday afternoon, Swiss police had identified the suspect, whom they described as being about 1 metre 90 centimeters tall (6.2 feet) with a bald head and an unkempt appearance. They did not name him.

The man was believed to be driving a white Volkswagen minivan with registration plates from the southeastern Swiss canton (state) of Graubuenden.

A health insurance company that has an office in the Schaffhausen building where the attack took place said two of its employees had to be taken to a hospital, the Swiss daily Blick reported.

CSS spokeswoman Christina Wettstein told Blick the two were undergoing medical operations after the attack Monday and she doesn’t know how they are doing.

She said it’s not clear who the other three wounded people are and said the company is checking to see if they are customers.

Schaffhausen is a city of about 36,000 people north of Zurich, near the border with Germany.

The latest on an attack in the northern Swiss city of Schaffhausen (all times local):

2:30 p.m.

The Swiss newspaper Blick is quoting an insurance company as saying that two of its employees in the northern city of Schaffhausen had to be taken to a hospital after an attack by a man wielding a chainsaw.

Insurer CSS spokeswoman Christina Wettstein told Blick the two were undergoing medical operations after the Monday morning attack and she doesn’t know how they are doing.

She says it’s not clear who the other three wounded people are and the company is checking to see if they customers.

Swiss police are hunting for the man who wounded five people in the city on the border with Germany and have sealed off the city’s Old Town area. They say the attack was “not a terrorist act.”

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1:30 p.m.

Police say that a man who wounded several people in the northern city of Schaffhausen was armed with a chainsaw.

Speaking shortly after the Monday morning attack, they say they’ve issued a description of the man, who is on the run. They say five people were taken to hospitals, two with serious injuries, following the attack on Monday morning.

They say they have now identified the suspect, adding that he is about 1 metre 90 centimetres (6.2 feet) tall, bald and with an unkempt appearance. He’s believed to be driving a Volkswagen vehicle with Swiss plates. Police say that the attack “is not a terrorist act.”

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1:10 p.m.

Swiss police say five people have been hospitalized, two of them with serious injuries, following an apparent attack in the northern city of Schaffhausen. Authorities are searching for a man.

Police spokeswoman Cindy Beer told SRF television that police were alerted at 10.39 a.m. Monday (0839 GMT) to the incident. She said “we can’t say exactly what happened at this point.”

She added: “We just know that a person wounded several people.” The man’s whereabouts are currently unknown.

Beer said police can’t say with certainty what implement the man used to wound the others.

The Associated Press