On Thursday, a masked gunman entered a crowded German cinema and fired shots in the air before taking hostages. Authorities quickly arrived at the scene and managed to shot the suspect, before seriously hurting anyone. Investigations remain ongoing.
German authorities have stated that the suspect was carrying a rifle when he stormed into the cinema located nearby Frankfurt on the western side of the country. The man fired four shots in the air before taking hostages.
Although the situation is still under investigation, authorities assured there wasn’t severely wounded victims although they were taken as hostages. Motives for the shooting remain ongoing, although local authorities at first assured it was a terrorist attack.
According to the Associated Press, the gunman was also carrying with him a pistol and dummy grenades before being shot by local officers, who arrived quickly to the cinema scene.
Unknown motives for the shooting
As of now, authorities continue to investigate which motives could have driven the gunman, before shooting four times in the air and demanding at the public, while making them his hostages at the crime scene.
Authorities first claimed the happening was due to terrorist attacks happening in Germany. Later on, authorities identified the deceased attacker as a 19-year-old man, born and raised 10 kilometers away from the shooting, born in Mannheim.
The 19-year-old man took 18 people hostages, yet local authorities shot him before the suspect started to throw bullets in the air.
The shooting happened at the Rhein Neckar Zentrum Viernheim, which is a very large and well-crowded mall. According to its website it has around 100 business and gets around 20,000 visitors per day.
Officers arrived at the scene as quickly as possible and with 100 men to support hostages inside the cinema. A local employee at a coffee shop had to close in demand of the officers who were running inside the cinema.
The happening was also reviewed by the mall’s Facebook page, which announced on late Thursday the situation had calmed down, but officers remained nearby the area,
“This is something very unusual for our town, at this moment in time, we have no information on injured persons. The driveway is still blocked. We will keep you updated,” said the statement published by the mall.
Officers were suspecting it had been a terrorist attack, yet it still needs to be proven as a terrorist act, related to the Islamic state. Experts state this has bot been the same M.O. that in previous attacks.
More information is being held on the concerning matter.
Source: CNN