German chancellor Angela Merkel was forced to scrap an election rally in the Bavarian town of Ingolstadt when a gunman took a deputy mayor and two of his staff hostage for more than nine hours.
The assailant, described by police as a stalker who suffered from psychological disorders, was arrested at the end of a tense standoff at the city hall. He had been injured.
Armed with a handgun, the man entered the 14th-century building and took three people hostage. Police cordoned off the building and negotiated with the hostage-taker via phone.
Deputy mayor Sepp Misslbeck was released after five hours but his two assistants – a man and a woman – were held at gunpoint inside his first-floor office until police smashed their way in to release them.
The gunman was described as a 24-year-old who was issued with a restraining order for stalking a 25-year-old-woman who worked in the building, Bavaria’s state interior minister, Joachim Herrmann, said.
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German tabloid Bild suggested that the woman, a secretary to Misslbeck, was the female hostage.
During the standoff mayor Alfred Lehmann said the hostage-taker wanted them to “reverse a decision” although it not clear what decision he meant.
Merkel was due to hold an election rally outside the Ingolstadt city hall but canclled. There was no indication of a connection between her visit and the hostage-taking.
Germany is to hold national elections in September.
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