Hostage situation in Germany resolved as captives freed and suspect dead

A man suspected of killing his mother and later taking two people hostage in the eastern German city of Dresden has died. Police urged people to avoid an area in the city centre and ordered the closing down of Dresden's Christmas market while officers tried to free the hostages. Police initially said they were communicating with the suspect before announcing shortly after noon today that the hostage situation was over. “The suspect died during the operation,” Dresden police later wrote on Twitter. “The 40-year-old suffered fatal injuries while ... the hostages were freed.”

Dresden police didn’t immediately respond to requests for confirmation about whether the man had been killed by police or died from self-inflicted injuries.

Authorities also said the hostages were “outwardly uninjured.” The 40-year-old German was also suspected of killing his 62-year-old mother, who was found dead by police in another part of the city earlier in the day. Radio Dresden reported that the man had tried to enter a building where the broadcaster is based, near the city’s main train station. He reportedly fired several shots before fleeing.

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