German hospital stand-off ends with police shooting, injuring woman
An hours-long stand-off at a hospital in the western German city of Aachen came to an end late Monday with police overpowering a woman who had threatened staff and barricaded herself inside a room.
The 65-year-old was seriously injured by police gunfire during the raid by a special tactical unit.
"As the woman did not respond when spoken to, the police officers used their firearms to put an end to the dangerous situation," a police statement said.
A dpa reporter at the scene saw the woman, wrapped in an emergency blanket, wheeled out of the facility on a stretcher and taken to an ambulance.
No one else is believed to have been injured.
The police had moved in to apprehend the woman at 11 pm (2200 GMT), about six hours after the ordeal began.
The police said they believe that the woman, who lived in the nearby town of Eschweiler, had suicidal intentions.
She had a blank-firing gun with her and threatened employees of a physiotherapy practice inside the hospital, according to the police account.
Aachen police said they were investigating whether there was a connection with a fire that destroyed an apartment in Eschweiler earlier on Monday. No one was injured in that incident.
While much remains unclear about how the hospital stand-off unfolded, authorities said alarm was first raised when emergency services were told a fire had broken out in the hospital around 5 pm. Smoke could been coming from the building.
Authorities have yet to say what caused the fire, which was put out later in the evening. The Bild newspaper reported that the woman had set off pyrotechnics.
Almost 400 patients and staff were inside the facility at the time stand-off.
Four people being treated in the intensive care unit were taken to other hospitals, while 270 patients stayed at the Luisenhospital throughout the ordeal.
