A gunman strapped with an ammunition belt and a firearm loaded with blank cartridges was shot dead inside of a movie theater in Viernheim Germany on Thursday [June 23]. While the extent of injury has yet to be confirmed, initial reports indicate that up to 25 people were hurt in the chaos. Numerous German news agencies indicated that most of the injuries were from tear-gas.
Police surrounded the cinema, which neighbors over 100 businesses in the Rhein Neckar Zentrum Vienheim shopping center, as a special forces unit stormed in, having prepared for the worst. They were acting in accordance with a procedure in response to terror, after it was reported that an armed masked-man had intruded and barricaded himself inside the facility. While it was first reported that the unidentified assailant had been arrested, reports were later amended to tell that he was taken down by police. So far, he is the only confirmed casualty.
The shopping complex had been a potential target for attacks, as it tallies up to 20,000 visitors per day. Germany has been on high alert following recent massacres in France and Belgium, and the possibility that the country may have been infiltrated by ISIS cells. Thursday's attack triggered security responses in various cities around the world, with New York City's Police Commissioner Bill Bratton announcing a deployment of critical teams to theaters around it's metropolitan area.
Source: youtube.com
