A BMW was driven ​deliberately ‌into a group of people, leaving ‌four to five of ‌them ​with some serious but not life-threatening injuries in Neustadt am Rübenberge late on Monday night, police said on Tuesday morning.

A police patrol making routine traffic checks in town near Hannover in the state of Lower Saxony, intervened, shooting at the car to stop it.

An unknown number of suspects fled the car on foot and remain at large, a police spokesperson said.

"The sequence of events and the exact roles of those involved are still under investigation," the spokesperson added.

Forensic analysis of the crime scene was ongoing, a police spokesperson said Image: Moritz Frankenberg/dpa/picture alliance

Preliminary findings indicate the individuals involved knew each other and that the perpetrators likely targeted the group of people and were not acting at random, the spokesperson said, adding that forensic analysis was ongoing.

A reporter for the German DPA news agency described several damaged cars, with flat…