German police arrest a man after a hospital worker is killed with a crossbow

BERLIN — An employee at a hospital in central Germany has been fatally wounded by a man wielding a crossbow, officials said Thursday. A suspect was arrested hours later.

The man entered the hospital in the small town of Bad Zwesten on Wednesday afternoon and attacked the 50-year-old employee before fleeing, prosecutors and police said in a statement. She died at the scene.

Investigators quickly identified a suspect and arrested the 58-year-old man from the Passau region, near the Austrian border, at a highway rest area in Bavaria during the night. Authorities said evidence was also seized, without elaborating.

Prosecutors and police said they were still investigating what exactly happened and why. They appealed for information from witnesses.