The police ended a “threat situation” in the Luisenhospital in the center of Aachen on Monday evening. According to the information, a 65-year-old had barricaded herself in a room in the hospital for hours. At around 11 p.m., according to the DPA news agency, the police announced that the woman had been overpowered by special forces.
She was injured during the attack, a spokesman said, without giving details. The woman was rolled out of the clinic on a stretcher, covered with thermal foil, as a DPA reporter reported. No third parties were injured, it said. The officials initially did not provide any information about the background to the incident.
According to initial findings, the 65-year-old entered the clinic in the afternoon. A “suspicious person” was then reported to the police. Heavily armed officers and rescue workers then took up positions near the hospital. It remained unclear late in the evening whether other people had been in the woman’s control in the meantime. “The surrounding rooms have been evacuated,” the police explained during the operation. Hospital employees also reported smoke development. The fire department extinguished a fire in the bed area of the clinic.
The area surrounding the Luisenhospital was cordoned off during the large-scale operation, and train traffic in Aachen was also affected by the police measures.
Editor’s note: This message has been updated several times.
Sources: Cologne Police Headquarters (1), Cologne Police Headquarters (2), DPA news agency
