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The suspect, 53, opened fire on the victims before security
workers at the site in the southern German city of Sindelfingen
held him down and handed him over to police, police and the
local prosecutor's office said in a statement.
The suspect did not resist arrest, they said, and the victims,
both aged 44, died of their injuries.
The incident was the latest of a number of mass shootings in
Germany in recent years, many of which had a connection with
extremism. Investigators have yet to establish a motive for
Thursday's shooting.
The German government had vowed to tighten its gun laws further
after a gunman opened fire on people gathered in a Jehovah's
Witnesses hall in Hamburg in March, killing six.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser had said after that attack that
the government would revisit its arms laws. The Social
Democrats, her party and that of Chancellor Olaf Scholz, have
been pushing for tougher restrictions, and Germany's police
union also called for a swift legislative response to restrict
the number of guns available.
Mercedes-Benz produces its flagship S-Class luxury sedan at the
Sindelfingen plant, located some 17 km (10.6 miles) southwest of
Stuttgart.
The company said the gunman and the two victims belonged to an
external services provider.
"We are deeply shocked and saddened by the tragic news,"
Mercedes said in a statement, adding that there was no longer
any danger to the local population or workers at the plant.
The production site - with a workforce of 35,000 - was evacuated
following the shooting, which took place after the suspect
entered the site at 7:45 a.m. (0545 GMT), police and the
Stuttgart prosecutor said.
Germany outlawed certain large magazines in 2020 and conducts
five-yearly checks on gun owners to ascertain whether their
possession of a weapon is justified.
In 2012, a shooting at a factory site for technology firm 3M in
the western German town of Hilden left one dead and four
injured.
(Reporting by Christina Amann, Rachel More, Ilona Wissenbach and
Miranda Murray; writing by Matthias Williams and Rachel More;
editing by Friederike Heine and Bernadette Baum)
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