Several people were injured after a car rammed into a group of pedestrians in Germany before police fired shots at the driver.
A BMW was driven deliberately into a group of people in the town of Neustadt am Ruebenberge near Hanover shortly before midnight on Monday, leaving four to five of them with injuries ranging from minor to severe, a police spokesman said.
A police patrol carrying out a routine traffic check intervened and prevented further harm as officers fired shots at the vehicle but the suspects fled on foot.
Emergency services deployed numerous personnel including armed police, a helicopter and a police dog. The scene was cordoned off for several hours.
The injured were taken to hospital. None of them are in life-threatening condition, according to authorities.
The car was driven deliberately into a group of people in the town of Neustadt am Ruebenberge near Hanover shortly before midnight on Monday
Drivers of the BMW fled the scene and remain at large, according to German police
Initial information suggests those involved were known to each other, and the victims were likely chosen deliberately.
The occupants of the BMW fled and remain at large, the spokesman added.
'The sequence of events and the exact involvement of those involved are still part of the investigation,' German police said.
It comes just months after a car ramming occurred in the country at Berlin's pride celebration, killing one person and injuring 29.
On July 25, Lebanese-German ISIS terrorist Abdul Ballout rammed a van into a crowd during the capital's annual Christopher Street Day parade.
The 21-year-old was shot and killed during a police operation at a garden complex in Spandau, west Berlin, the following day.
