German police: Suspect dead after killing mother, taking hostages in Dresden

Suspect, 40, dies during rescue of two held near Christmas market; he reportedly also fired shots near main train station

BERLIN — German police said Saturday that a man suspected of killing his mother and later taking two people hostage in the eastern city of Dresden has died.

Authorities had urged people to avoid an area in the city center and ordered Dresden’s Christmas market to remain closed while the police operation to free the hostages was underway.

Police initially said they were communicating with the suspect before announcing shortly after noon that the hostage situation was over.

“The suspect died during the operation,” Dresden police later wrote on Twitter. “The 40-year-old suffered fatal injuries while … the hostages were freed.”

Dresden police didn’t immediately respond to requests for confirmation about whether the man had been killed by police or died from self-inflicted injuries.

Police also said the hostages were “outwardly uninjured.”

Special forces of the German police stand in front of the “Altmarkt Galerie” shopping mall in the center of the city of Dresden, eastern Germany, on December 10, 2022, as a large-scale police operation has been launched due to a suspected hostage situation. (Jens Schlueter / AFP)

The 40-year-old German was also suspected of killing his 62-year-old mother. Police had found the woman dead in another part of the city early Saturday.

Radio Dresden reported that the man had tried to enter a building where the broadcaster is based, near the city’s main train station.

He reportedly fired several shots before fleeing, according to Radio Dresden.