German police announced Friday, January 26, that they had arrested a man as he tried to escape with a hostage from a store in downtown Ulm in the southwest of the country.
Contacted by AFP, a spokesperson for the local police refused to give details about the hostage or the motivations of the perpetrator.
“At 8:20 p.m.
(7:20 p.m. GMT)
, the armed attacker left the building with a hostage before fleeing
,” Ulm police said in a statement.
Police fired shots and apprehended the suspect, authorities said, stressing that the hostage was unharmed.
The hostage-taking began around 6:45 p.m., police added, specifying that a security cordon had been established around the square and the main monument of the city, the Ulm cathedral church having then been closed .
The hostage taking took place in a Starbucks store, according to local media.
Hamburg airport was closed last year because a man held his four-year-old daughter and barricaded himself in his car on the tarmac.