#BREAKING: #Pictures from the scene of a shooting and hostage situation in #Viernheim #Germany: 50 injured pic.twitter.com/umeJnG4RSX
— Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) June 23, 2016
Shortly after 3 pm local time an unidentified gunman opened fire in the Kinopolis movie theater in the Rhein-Neckar-Zentrum shopping mall in the German city of Viernheim. The gunman had a small weapon and an ammunition belt, the Bild newspaper reports.
Nach der #Geiselnahme: Erste Bewegtbilder aus #Viernheim…https://t.co/WEDAl3pESd
— hessenschau (@hessenschau) 23 июня 2016 г.
"A gunman has barricaded in a movie theater," local police confirmed.
Reports of 26 injured in shooting at cinema in #Viernheim, near Frankfurt, Germany. Man inside surrounded by police. pic.twitter.com/GfvlIY6miz
— James Marlow (@James_J_Marlow) June 23, 2016
Several dozens of the cinema visitors escaped the theater.
Media reports suggested that there is a hostage situation in the theater.
#Viernheim: officials issued a news barrier, police say there is a "Threat Situation"
— I.E.N. (@GoldenKrant) 23 июня 2016 г.
pic.twitter.com/ByjCrZvhmQ
An elite police unit from Frankfurt were on the way to the scene.
#Viernheim SEK Einsatz pic.twitter.com/zxVsKmTQTT
— Buddendorff (@buddendorf) 23 июня 2016 г.
Local hospitals have launched an emergency response plan in preparation for admitting injured people
#Viernheim: No reports of bullet wounds among those injured, no more killings reported pic.twitter.com/riB2G8qNF9
— I.E.N. (@GoldenKrant) 23 июня 2016 г.
Darmstadt police confirmed to Sputnik that no one was harmed in the hostage crisis in a cinema located in the Western German town of Viernheim.
"The shooter is dead and no one is injured," a spokesman for the police service said.
Earlier local media reported that from 20 to 50 people have been wounded in an attack on a cinema in the southwestern German town of Viernheim.