German police stormed into a pharmacy and arrested a suspect after the person took two people hostage and demanded over a million euros to free them.
Multiple officers wearing tactical gear stormed into a building in the southern city centre of Karlsruhe near the French border late on Friday, according to a Reuters witness.
Multiple explosions were heard. German police later said that they had arrested one suspect and that there were no injuries.
Police had cordoned off the streets and set up beds in a local school for residents who haven’t been allowed to get home.
Citing operational reasons, police earlier were not divulging any details about the operation such as how many people were inside the building.
But local press were reporting that a single hostage taker was demanding over a million euros for the release of two people he took hostage on Friday afternoon.
It remains unclear whether the hostage taker has motives beyond money.
A huge police operation was also underway in the surrounding streets, with support teams called in from as far away as Frankfurt.
According to a report in Bild newspaper, the pharmacy was held up just a few weeks ago by a masked man carrying a weapon that resembled a saw.
It is unclear whether there is a connection between the crimes.
The incident took place in the city centre, leading to a host of cultural events on the Friday evening being cancelled.
Karlsruhe is a quiet town of some 300,000 inhabitants in the state of Baden-Württemberg best known for being the home of Germany’s Supreme Court.
An illegal live stream of the police operation was available on TikTok earlier in the evening in which loud bangs resembling gun shots could be heard.
Last year marked the 50th anniversary of the most notorious hostage situation in Germany history, when Palestinian militants took Israeli athletes hostage at the 1972 Olympics in Munich.
Police operations then were shown on live TV, allowing the hostage takers to anticipate the police’s plans.
The dramatic stand-off comes just a day after a deadly gun spree left Germany in a state of shock.
On Thursday evening a gunman attacked a Jehovah‘s Witnesses church in Hamburg killing six people inside.
Video has emerged showing the gunman shooting repeatedly through a window before entering the building and murdering members of the defenceless congregation.
Source: telegraph.co.uk