Man holds hostages in German city
Two people still being held in Ingolstadr after one is freed by the hostage-taker.
A man claiming to be carrying a gun took three hostages in the town hall of a German city where Chancellor Angela Merkel had been due to give a campaign rally later in the day.
Merkel cancelled her event following the hostage-taking, as police negotiated with the man, who after five hours freed one of the captives, a deputy mayor of the town of Ingolstadr north of Munich.
The incident started shortly before 9 am (0700 GMT) on Monday.
The gunman was still holding two hostages, a man and a woman, the police said.
The hostage-taker was a young man armed with a handgun, though it wasn’t clear whether it contained live ammunition, police said.
“The man wants us to reverse a decision, it wasn’t immediately clear what decision he meant, but he may have been referring to the fact he had been barred from Ingolstadt’s city halls,” Mayor Alfred Lehmann said.