Suspect man dead – SEK saves hostages

Dresden. Dramatic large-scale operation in Dresden before Christmas: A man took two hostages, a woman and a child, in a shopping center on Saturday morning. Around noon, emergency services overwhelm the apparently mentally ill, who is seriously injured and later dies. According to the police, he had previously killed his mother, and shots were also fired in an office building where, among other things, a radio station is based.

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Around 7.20 a.m. on Saturday morning, the police found the man’s lifeless mother in an apartment building in the Prohlis district of Dresden. An emergency doctor who was called could only determine her death. The 40-year-old son is a suspect, according to the police.

Shots fired at Radio Dresden – employees unharmed

The man is said to have gone to an office building in which the “Radio Dresden” station is also based. The man tried to destroy a door and break in, the broadcaster’s managing director, Tino Utassy, ​​told the German Press Agency. After he failed to get into the rooms, he shot through a hole in the door. “Fortunately, the staff had the presence of mind and ran out through a second exit and fled,” Utassy said. According to the broadcaster, all were unharmed. The perpetrator left the building after the shots were fired. During the crime, the man had a friend’s nine-year-old child with him.

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The morning show teams for Hitradio RTL and Radio Dresden were affected. The man tried to break into the studios around 8:30 a.m. on Saturday morning. It is difficult to describe how the employees are doing. “They say they’re fine, but of course we don’t know for sure. We will of course do everything we can to ensure that they receive the appropriate help,” said Utassy.

The third crime scene was the Dresden Altmarkt gallery, where the 40-year-old holed up in the office of a dm market – he had the child and an employee (38) hostage in his power. The man then called the emergency number for the police, officials stayed in constant contact with him. When police officers heard shots from the office, special forces from the Saxon police force opened a door and firearms were used, killing the 40-year-old, the police said in the evening. The police found a live pistol on the man. The two hostages appeared unharmed.

The police evacuated the shopping center and adjacent areas during the operation. Several people were accommodated in a bus of the Dresden transport company and were cared for there. The famous Striezelmarkt also remained closed for the time being – it only reopened in the early afternoon. The police asked because of the kidnapping to avoid downtown Dresden. The area around the Altmarkt-Galerie is cordoned off. Due to the police operation, there were traffic restrictions throughout the day in Dresden.

“We are most likely to assume a mental illness”

A police spokesman explained the motive of the alleged perpetrator that the man had been very conspicuous in his mental behavior. “We are most likely to assume that it is a mental illness.” Otherwise, nothing was obviously known to the police.

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Saxony’s Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) expressed his condolences to the victims. “I am relieved that this threatening situation could be ended. I would like to thank all the Saxon police forces involved for their decisive and prudent action,” Kretschmer wrote on Twitter on Saturday.

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Saxony’s Interior Minister Armin Schuster (CDU) thanked the emergency services. “I thank the emergency services for their quick and prudent action, which could possibly have prevented worse,” he said, according to a statement on Saturday. He was appalled by the act of a presumably mentally disturbed lone perpetrator and relieved that the police were able to free the two people in the perpetrator’s power unharmed given the difficult situation.

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Dresden’s Lord Mayor Dirk Hilbert was concerned and also thanked the emergency services. “This act shows how fragile pre-Christmas contemplation and light-heartedness can be,” said the FDP politician.

RND/dpa/alx/seb

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