Gunman shot dead after German cinema attack

World Today

Germany Cinema IncidentEmergency vehicles stand outside of a cinema in Viernheim near Mannheim, southern Germany, Thursday, June 23, 2016. A gunman was shot by police after he took hostages in the complex. (Boris Roessler/dpa via AP)

A masked man was shot dead on Thursday after entering a cinema in southwestern Germany with a weapon and taking several hostages, authorities said. No one else was injured.

German broadcaster RNF showed footage of German special forces entering the cinema complex where the apparent shooting take place.

An armed man entered the Kinopolis movie theatre in the early afternoon in the town of Viernheim and apparently fired a gun, police spokesman Bernd Hochstaedter told n-tv television.

Police shot the suspect dead about three hours later, Hesse Interior Minister Peter Beuth said.

A police spokeswoman at the scene, Christiane Kompus, told The Associated Press that she had no information on the assailant’s identity and motives.

Germany Cinema Incident

Police officers stand in front of a cinema in Viernheim near Mannheim, southern Germany, Thursday, June 23, 2016. A gunman was shot by police after he took hostages in the complex. (Boris Roessler/dpa via AP)

She said the man had been holding several hostages, but didn’t have a precise number.

Beuth said it wasn’t clear whether the weapon was real.

He told the regional legislature in Wiesbaden that the man was masked and that apparently four shots were fired.

Story by The Associated Press

Germany Cinema Incident

Police officers stand near a cinema in Viernheim near Mannheim, southern Germany, Thursday, June 23, 2016. A gunman was shot by police after he took hostages in the complex. (Boris Roessler/dpa via AP)