A hostage-taking in a shop in Berlin-Schoeneberg came to a bloody end early Tuesday morning. Special forces broke into the store on Keithstrasse shortly after half past two, the police said on Twitter. According to the police, the perpetrator committed suicide while his male hostage was unharmed. According to a DPA photographer, the hostage, who had been held by the man for hours, was led to an ambulance. According to the police, a woman had already been rescued “from the danger area”. She was slightly injured.
“I can confirm that the operation is over,” said a police spokesman early Tuesday morning. The first emergency calls to a raid on the shop in Schöneberg on Monday around 5.30 p.m. triggered the large-scale operation not far from Wittenbergplatz. The area between Kurfürstenstrasse, Kleiststrasse and Keithstrasse was cordoned off for hours.
In addition to SEK officers, ambulances and paramedics also rushed to the crime scene. Shortly after their arrival, the emergency services were able to arrest another man “relatively early”, as the police spokesman said. Whether it was an accomplice of the hostage-taker is now the subject of the investigation. Both were armed.
During the operation, the police asked on Twitter not to publish any photos of what was happening at the crime scene: “We urgently ask passers-by, local residents
