Daily Times

VIERNHEIM: A masked gunman barricaded himself in a German multiplex cinema with dozens of people Thursday before being killed by police on high security alert following a string of attacks around Europe, officials said.

No one else was injured at the complex in the western town of Viernheim, 75 kilometres (50 miles) south of Frankfurt, the interior minister of Hesse state, Peter Beuth, said.

“The assailant moved through the cinema complex… and appeared confused,” he said. “There were hostages inside and there was a struggle (with police) until in the end he was dead.”

“We have no information that anyone (among the cinema-goers) was injured,” Beuth added. Viernheim police, however, said in a statement: “There was an acute threat situation.”

Access to the cinema was sealed off Thursday evening as police searched for possible explosives. A spokesman said the attacker was seen carrying a bag as he entered the building.

Initial reports had referred to shots fired and dozens of injured people as the police dispatched heavily armed elite units to the site, equipped with helmets and bulletproof vests.