At around 8:30 am local time in Dresden, a 40-year-old gunman entered an office building near Central Station and opened fire. Bild says he’s trying to break into Radio Dresden.
According to the broadcast, the attacker started firing at the fire exit of the building where the radio was located, but was unable to get inside. Tino Utassi, head of the radio station, said the media workers managed to hide in a safe place and called the police.
As soon as the police arrived on the scene, the attacker fled in a car. He drove into the old town, ran to the Altmarktgalerie shopping center and barricaded a pharmacy. According to Bild, the man took several people hostage. The rest of the visitors to the Altmarktgalerie shopping center were evacuated.
Police reported an operation “related to the alleged hostage taking.”
“Related [торговый центр] The Altmarktgalerie and its surroundings are being evacuated.”
Law enforcement cordoned off the city center and closed the Striezelmarkt Christmas market until the end of the day. Police said on Twitter that public transport in Dresden is operating with restrictions.
Deutsche Welle (the organization was included in the list of foreign agents by the Ministry of Justice), citing Dresden police, said the shooter may have been guilty of murdering a 70-year-old woman (deceased 62, according to some reports).
“Dresden police said that the body of the murdered 70-year-old woman was found in one of the apartments in the Prolis district, and that her 40-year-old son was the suspect,” the newspaper writes.
A police spokesperson said the woman’s death in Prolis was directly linked to the hostage-taking at the Altmarktgalerie.
Assault and detention
Radio Dresen writes that as part of the hostage rescue operation, a negotiation team and a special task force affiliated with the Saxon Criminal Police Office were in contact with the criminal by phone and urged him to surrender.
According to Bild, the police had to raid the pharmacy. They caught the suspect by injuring him. The hostages – a woman and a child – were not injured. Police said the situation is under control and the cordon in the city center has been lifted.
“We arrested a 40-year-old pawnshop. “We currently have two people in our custody,” said police spokesman Thomas Geithner.
The motives of the perpetrator are currently unknown. The media did not exclude that a robbery was committed, but this information was not confirmed. At the same time, the shooter’s extremist motives were not reported.
Police believe the man is mentally ill.