Germany’s public prosecutor has filed charges against a soldier suspected of murdering four people, including a child, earlier this year.

The Bundeswehr soldier is suspected of having fatally shot four people on March 1 in the northern German state of Lower Saxony.

According to the investigators, the soldier has killed the victims out of hatred and revenge, the background being marital problems.

The regional court in Verden must now decide whether to open proceedings.

The victims all came from the alleged perpetrator’s wife’s circle, after the two had separated. The 32-year-old is said to have first killed his ex-partner’s new boyfriend and his mother. He then allegedly shot a friend of his ex-partner and her 3-year-old daughter.

The next morning, the man is said to have handed himself in at the Von Düring barracks in the town of Rotenburg, near the alleged crime scenes.

Police officers who were called arrested the man. He has been in custody since the offence. According to the police, the suspect is not a member of the barracks.

The soldier was armed with an assault rifle and a pistol. According to the investigators, the weapons did not come from Bundeswehr stocks.

A Molotov cocktail was stuck in the driver’s door of his car and there was ammunition in the boot next to a Bundeswehr rucksack. What the man intended to do with it remained unclear at first.

Shortly before the offence, the ex-partner and her new boyfriend – one of the victims – had sought help and reported the suspect for threatening them.