MUNICH (BNO NEWS) — A state prosecutor was killed in southern Germany on Wednesday when the defendant opened fire in the courtroom, police said on Thursday.

The shooting happened at a courtroom in Dachau, a large town about 20 kilometers (12 miles) northwest of Munich. The defendant, 54-year-old Rudolf U., allegedly pulled out a gun and opened fire at the judge while the case was being heard.

Police said the shooter initially missed the 31-year-old judge, but then fired three other shots which hit him. The prosecutor, identified only as Tilman T., was rushed to a nearby hospital for emergency surgery but later died of his severe injuries.

According to German media, the defendant was an employer in the transport business and allegedly owed the state about 44,000 euros ($56,000) in unpaid social security contributions for his employees. The judge was to sentence him to a one-year suspended sentence when he pulled out his gun.

It was not immediately clear how the defendant obtained the weapon, which was a 6.35-caliber pistol. Officials said there are no security checkpoints at the courthouse to check for weapons, although the building does have a camera at the entrance and a security guard although he does not check all visitors.

In March 1994, 39-year-old Erwin Mikolajczyk opened fire at a court house in Euskirchen, a town in North Rhine-Westphalia near the border with Belgium and the Netherlands, after a judge upheld his conviction for assaulting his ex-girlfriend. Mikolajczyk shot and killed his ex-girlfriend, the judge and four other people before killing himself with a homemade bomb.