Aarau shooting likely to bring tighter security at Swiss events

The shooting at a rave party in Aarau could change how Switzerland secures public events, according to André Duvillard, a former head of the National Security Network and former commander of the Neuchâtel cantonal police.

The gunfire broke out at about 2:30 a.m. at the end of the party at the Schachen horse-racing track. A 22-year-old Italian woman died and five people were injured. Many questions remain about the incident, but Duvillard said its impact on event security was already clear.

He pointed to the possibility of X-ray scanners at entrances and more extensive physical checks to prevent weapons from entering event grounds. He said the shooting could produce a lasting security shift because it happened in Aarau, a typical medium-sized Swiss city known for its peaceful character and numerous events. The party drew about 3,000 people, a size he said was common at hundreds of festivals across the country.

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Each tragedy of this kind is a trauma that leads to permanent security reinforcement.

Duvillard compared the expected effect with the 2001 massacre at the Zug parliament. That attack led to lasting security measures across Switzerland, including police officers inside cantonal and municipal parliaments. He also cited a 2013 shooting in the Valais village of Daillon, which killed three people and seriously injured two, but said the Aarau incident might have a reach closer to the Zug tragedy.

For Duvillard, the event challenges the idea that Switzerland’s public spaces are broadly insulated from such violence. He said each similar tragedy creates a trauma that results in security measures from which there is no return.

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That such a tragedy should occur there shows that no one is safe from it.