On 27 February 2013, a gunman opened fire at the

Kronospan Kronospan is an Austrian-founded, Cyprus-based, international company that manufactures and distributes wood-based panels which are used in applications including flooring, furniture and timber-framed houses. The company manufactures particleboar ...

wood-processing plant in the

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town of

Menznau Menznau is a municipality in the district of Willisau in the canton of Lucerne in Switzerland. On February 27, 2013, a gunman opened fire in a Kronospan wood-processing plant, killing four. History Menznau is first mentioned in 1185 as ''Menzen ...

, killing four people. Five others were wounded, two critically. The gunman died during a struggle where another worker defended himself by throwing a chair at the gunman, then grabbed with both arms the gunman, during the struggle the gunman shot himself, although it was not possible to determine whether intentionally or accidentally.

Shooting

The shooting, which took place at approximately 09:00

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(08:00 UTC), occurred in the canteen area of the plant. The wounded were flown to two area hospitals for treatment. Among the victims was Benno Studer (born 29 December 1986), a successful Swiss Wrestler active in competitions since 2007, with notable victories in 2010 and 2011. The gunman was identified as Viktor Berisha (in Swiss media mostly anonymized as "Viktor B."), aged 42, a

Kosovar Albanian The Albanians of Kosovo ( sq, Shqiptarët e Kosovës, ), also commonly called Kosovo Albanians, Kosovar/Kosovan Albanians or Kosovars/Kosovans, constitute the largest ethnic group in Kosovo. Kosovo Albanians belong to the ethnic Albanian sub-gr ...

who had received

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in Switzerland in 1991, and who had been convicted to a prison sentence for robbery in 1998. At some point after 2003, he was naturalized as a Swiss citizen. The weapon used by the perpetrator was a

Sphinx Systems Sphinx Systems Limited was a Swiss-based manufacturer of high quality pistols used mainly by special forces, elite police units and sports shooters. Sphinx was founded in 1976, specializing in tooling and machining, and then diversified into the ...

model AT380 sub-compact pistol, legally owned by Berisha's brother. Berisha was married and had three children.

Victims

*Thomas M., 44, died on February 28 *Christina N., 47 *Hans S., 61, died on April 4Death toll from Swiss Menznau shooting rises to five
''

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'' (April 5, 2013) *Benno Studer, 26

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Menznau shooting 2013 mass shootings in Europe Mass murder in 2013 2013 in Switzerland Canton of Lucerne February 2013 events in Europe Mass shootings in Switzerland 2013 murders in Switzerland