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 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.
A reporter for the German DPA news agency described several damaged cars, with flat tires, a smashed rear window and bullet holes.
This article will be updated as more information becomes available.