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Germany shooting: man 'killed after opening fire at cinema in Viernheim' Germany shooting: man killed after opening fire at cinema in Viernheim
(about 1 hour later)
An armed and masked man was shot dead by German special police on Thursday afternoon after storming a cinema complex in Viernheim in the Hesse region.An armed and masked man was shot dead by German special police on Thursday afternoon after storming a cinema complex in Viernheim in the Hesse region.
The gunman had taken several hostages, all of whom escaped uninjured. A number of people inside the cinema were reportedly lightly injured when police deployed CS gas.The gunman had taken several hostages, all of whom escaped uninjured. A number of people inside the cinema were reportedly lightly injured when police deployed CS gas.
The man entered the Kinopolis complex at about 3pm, shortly after the start of the first screenings of the day. The cinema was showing The Jungle Book, Alice in the Wonderland and the comedy Central Intelligence. Police said that they had no indication of the motives of the man who entered the Kinopolis complex at about 3pm, shortly after the start of the first screenings of the day.
According to several reports in German media, the man was masked and carrying a “long weapon”, with a munition belt slung over his shoulder. Witnesses said the man fired four shots as he entered the cinema. The cinema had been showing The Jungle Book, Alice in the Wonderland and the comedy Central Intelligence. According to several reports in German media, the man was masked with a balaclava and carrying combat boots and a “long weapon”, with a munition belt slung over his shoulder.
The interior minister of the state of Hesse, Peter Beuth, said special police forces had “fought and killed” the gunman. He could not confirm whether the gunman was carrying a live or a dummy weapon. Witnesses said the man fired four shots as he entered the cinema.
German police’s special response unit had closed off an area around the cinema complex shortly after the start of the incident. Police spokesperson Bernd Hochstaedter said that the police deployment lasted around three hours. The interior minister of the state of Hesse, Peter Beuth, said special police forces had “fought and killed” the gunman. He could not confirm whether the man was carrying a live or a dummy weapon. The tabloid newspaper Bild reported that police had found a hand grenade and an explosives belt next to the man’s body but could not confirm whether they were fake or real.
“We believe that there were no injured people, and that the people who were in the cinema with the perpetrator could be freed uninjured”, Hochstaedter said. One of the hostages, identified by Bild as 16-year-old Almir Almilovic, was quoted as saying: “The perpetrator surprised us on the toilet. He hissed to us: ‘Lie down if you care for your lives!’ We were around 17 hostages.”
Initially there had been reports in the media that up to 50 people had been injured during the attack. German police’s special response unit closed off an area around the cinema complex shortly after the start of the incident. Police spokesperson Bernd Hochstädter said the police deployment lasted around three hours.
According to German press agency dpa, German security services currently believe the gunman to be a “confused individual” rather than a terrorist. Initially, there were media reports that up to 50 people had been injured during the attack.
According to the press agency Dpa, police believe the gunman to have been a “confused individual” rather than a terrorist.
Police spokesperson Bernd Hochstädter told newspaper Die Welt: “We have no indications regarding the motive, but we can say with certainty that the attack did not have an Islamist motive”.
Germany has one of the highest weapons-per-head rates in the world, but also one of the lowest gun homicide rates in Europe: a death rate of 0.05 per 1,000 people, compared with 3.34 in the US.
Incidents of gun crime, including the use of weapons to threaten people, have declined by almost a quarter since 2010, a trend that many experts put down to changes to German gun law in the wake of a string of high-profile shootings, including the killing of 15 people at a school in Winnenden near Stuttgart in March 2009.
Germany is the only country in the world where anyone under the age of 25 who applies for their first firearms licence must undergo a psychiatric evaluation with a trained counsellor, involving personality and anger management tests.