Salzhausen: Two bodies found – police are investigating a homicide

A 74-year-old is said to have killed a 44-year-old woman and then himself in the Salzhausen community south of Hamburg. According to initial investigations, both are said to have been ex-partners, the police said on Wednesday. Officers began an investigation into a homicide.

Witness reported accident involving two cars

First of all, a witness on Wednesday morning reported an accident involving two cars and two lifeless people on a street in the community in the district of Harburg. Rescue workers at the scene then determined that it was not a traffic accident and that the man had a gunshot wound, a police spokesman said.

Police found a large caliber gun

The evidence indicates that the man initially killed the woman, said the police spokesman – how is still unclear. He is said to have set the rear of the car on fire and then killed himself with a gun. Police found a large caliber gun.

When emergency services arrived, they found the woman behind the burning car. The fire spread so quickly that the woman’s body burned. The fire brigade extinguished the fire. It was initially not known whether the bodies should be autopsied in the forensic medicine department.

The cars belonged to the two dead

What happened before the crime, whether there was a dispute, should now be determined, as the spokesman said. The two cars belonged to the man and woman, who both lived in the area. The crime scene was on a connecting road between the communities of Salzhausen and Vierhöfen in the Lüneburg Heath.