Gunman attacks cinema, shot dead by police in southwestern German town

A gunman has been shot dead by the police on Thursday in a southwestern German town after he launched an attack in a cinema.

A spokesman with the police called Hochstaedter told Xinhua that the incident occurred at around 2:30 in the afternoon local time.

According to Hochstaedter, people found a person with a weapon going into the cinema and called the police who came to the cinema and shot the armed man dead.

Hochstaedter clarified that nobody in the cinema got hurt. Hochstaedter declined to tell more details about the identity of the armed man.

A man working at the cinema said a gunman pointed his gun at him and his colleagues.

He asked whether the gunman wanted money and the gunman said no. Then the gunman asked him to go upstairs and stay in a room where he witnessed what happened through cameras.

He said he heard the gunman fired maybe five to six shots.

It was an automatic gun and there were about 40 people in the cinema, he said, adding he thought it was not a terrorist attack.

"He spoke very good German and didn't look like a terrorist,"he said, "Maybe there was a mental problem with him."

"Of course I was scared when he pointed a gun at me. Now I am good," he said.

The local prosecution office is going to disclose more details about the incident on Friday.

Previously, local media reports said at least 25 people were hurt in the attack.

(APD)