crime
After the hostage-taking at Ulm Minster, many questions remain unanswered
Emergency services shot the perpetrator and ended the hostage-taking. photo
© Marius Bulling/dpa
Right on the highest church tower in the world, a man takes several hostages and triggers a huge police operation. After more than an hour, shots ended the crime. What are the backgrounds?
The perpetrator was seriously injured by shots fired by emergency services and was taken to a hospital. He was operated on there and his life was said to be out of danger, it was initially said. The Baden-Württemberg State Criminal Police Office has taken over the investigation.
According to security circles, the hostage taker from Münsterplatz in Ulm initially had six people in his power. This emerges from a situation report from the Ministry of the Interior, which is available to the German Press Agency. He therefore released five. He threatened a hostage with a gun and demanded that the police shoot him.
“My heart was pumping”
According to police, the motive is still unclear. The suspect left the shop on Ulm’s Münsterplatz with a hostage at around 8:20 p.m. to escape. That’s when the police shot. “We assume that the perpetrator was armed and posed a significant danger,” said the public prosecutor.
According to police, the hostage-taking began at around 6:45 p.m. The officials had closed the central Münsterplatz in Ulm and the entrances there because of the operation.
The alleged perpetrator was said to have been in the Bundeswehr, according to security sources. He had several handguns and long guns with him. Security circles reported that the perpetrator stated during the hostage-taking that he wanted to be shot by the special operations command (SEK).
A passer-by reported to dpa that she heard three shots. “My heart was pumping.” At that moment she didn’t think anything at all and just ran away.
Münsterplatz is located in the heart of the 130,000-inhabitant city on the Danube, on the border between Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria. The cathedral has the highest church tower in the world at 161.53 meters and is the city’s landmark.