German police have arrested a 54-year-old suspect believed to be the gunman behind a fatal shooting on a railway platform in the busy Frankfurt Central Station, police said on Wednesday.

The victim, a 27-year-old man, was standing on the station’s Platform nine at around 9 p.m. (1900 GMT) on Tuesday when a gunman approached him from behind and fired several shots from a pistol, it said.

The victim died at the scene.

The suspected gunman tried to flee but was captured by police shortly afterwards on a nearby platform.

A pistol believed to have been the weapon used in the shooting was discovered during a search of the station, which was closed to all train traffic for about 25 minutes that night due to the police operation.

Prosecutors in Frankfurt said that both the suspect and the victim are Turkish nationals.

A possible motive in the shooting remains unclear, and authorities said the investigation remains ongoing.

The 54-year-old suspected shooter is set to be brought before a judge on Wednesday, who will decide whether the man will remain in custody while police continue to investigate the shooting.

By Wednesday, travellers again swarmed the station and little indication remained of the fatal shooting just hours earlier.

“It’s really frightening that something like this happens in the middle of the railway station,” a student from Frankfurt who was on her way to Munich said.

She noted that the district around the Frankfurt Central Station has long been notorious for its seediness.

“The station has got worse,” a man who said he has been working at a bakery stall near Platform nine for over 20 years said.

(dpppa/NAN)