Police seal off city center in Germany following ‘hostage situation’

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A gunman broke into a shopping center in the eastern city of Dresden

A hostage crisis unfolded in the eastern German city of Dresden on Saturday, when an armed man broke into the downtown Altmarkt-Galerie shopping mall and held a woman and child at gunpoint.

A SWAT team and negotiators were deployed to the site as police evacuated people from the mall and closed the nearby Christmas market.

Police spokesman Thomas Geithner said officers eventually detained the suspect, who had been injured. The hostages were unharmed. Police had previously said they were maintaining contact with the man by phone.

According to Geithner, the suspect is aged 40. The body of his 62-year-old mother was found in one of the city’s apartment blocks on Saturday morning. Police said they believe the murder of the gunman’s mother and his subsequent rampage were “obviously related.”


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Radio Dresden reported that, before attacking the mall, the gunman tried to storm its office while firing a gun, but failed to enter the building. Head of Radio Dresden, Tino Utassy, told Bild newspaper that its employees were unharmed.


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