As of: January 27, 2024, 8:30 a.m
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An armored police vehicle is parked in Ulmam Münsterplatz.
© Marius Bulling/dpa
Right on the highest church tower in the world, a man takes several hostages and triggers a huge police operation.
Emergency services cordon off parts of the city center.
After more than an hour, shots ended the hostage situation.
Ulm - After the hostage-taking at Ulm's Münsterplatz, the police are continuing to investigate the background to the crime.
A man took several people hostage in a shop in the middle of Ulm's city center on Friday evening.
Emergency services shot the man and ended the hostage situation.
“The hostages remained unharmed,” said prosecutor Michael Bischofberger.
The suspect was injured and is being treated in a hospital.
According to the police, the motive is still unclear.
The suspect left the shop on Ulm's Münsterplatz with a hostage at around 8:20 p.m. to escape.
That's when the police shot.
“We assume that the perpetrator was armed and posed a significant danger,” said the public prosecutor.
According to police, the hostage-taking began at around 6:45 p.m.
The officials had closed the central Münsterplatz in Ulm and the entrances there because of the operation.
According to dpa information, the hostage taker from Ulm Münsterplatz was seriously injured.
The suspected perpetrator was said to have been in the Bundeswehr, according to security sources.
He had several handguns and long guns with him.
Security circles reported that the perpetrator stated during the hostage-taking that he wanted to be shot by the SEK.
A passer-by reported to dpa that she heard three shots.
“My heart was pumping.” At that moment she didn’t think anything at all and just ran away.
Münsterplatz is located in the heart of the 130,000-inhabitant city on the Danube, on the border between Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria.
The cathedral has the highest church tower in the world at 161.53 meters and is the city's landmark.
dpa