A homeless man with a history of mental illness held two people hostage for almost nine hours before German police rushed in and arrested him at the Ingolstadt town hall in Bavaria.
The two people held captive didn't sustain any injuries, the BBC reported Monday evening. The man who held the hostages, a 24-year-old unnamed individual, was injured after the police raid. He has been taken to a nearby hospital for treatment of two bullet wounds in his shoulder and leg.
The dramatic standoff between law enforcement and the assailant forced Chancellor Angela Merkel to forgo a campaign rally that was scheduled in town that same day, Agence France Presse reported.
The 24-year-old man is said to have been a former psychiatric patient, according to AFP. He entered the Ingolstadt town hall at around 9:00 a.m. local time, wielding a fake handgun and blade. He then took four hostages, freed one of them a few minutes later, and then let another hostage-deputy mayor Sepp Misslbeck-go five hours after.
"Old man, you are the first who'll get a bullet in the head today," Misslbeck reported the hostage-taker as saying.
The man was reportedly stalking one of the two hostages he kept under his control-a 25-year-old receptionist that worked at the old town hall.
Upwards of 200 police officers outfitted in riot gear negotiated with the man for hours. According to AFP, the hostage-taker merely told authorities he wanted a doner kebab and some cigarettes.
Then, witnesses outside said they heard banging noises from within the town hall walls, which were either the shots that wounded the 24-year-old hostage taker, or stun grenades police officers set off.
Town Mayor Alfred Lehmann said the situation was "horrible," as it unfolded before the community's eyes.
"The staff were deeply dismayed and didn't know how to react," he stated. "It's a very bad day for Ingolstadt."
The final two hostages were set free with no physical harm done.
According to Lehmann, the hostage-taker was friends with the receptionist until he was given a restraining order to stay away from her, which he broke when he entered the building.
The Mayor also stated that the 24-year-old man had a history of violence and threatening people.
