German police have opened fire on a man said to be “rampaging” at Berlin Cathedral. A police officer was also injured in the incident, which police say was not linked to terrorism.
The Berlin police department confirmed in a Twitter post that an officer had opened fire at a “rampaging” person in the Berlin Cathedral, adding that the suspect had been shot in the leg.
One officer was also injured, police said, adding that the exact circumstances of the incident are still unclear. They further revealed that the suspect is a 53-year-old man, and added that, so far, there is no evidence suggesting that he may have had any “terrorist or Islamist motives.”
“We saw the guy come in and start yelling, pacing up and down the cathedral,” a witness to the incident told RT’s Ruptly video agency. “We got halfway up the balcony [in the cathedral] when we heard three – of what sounded like – gunshots… and then we heard all the sirens.”
Footage posted on Twitter shows armed police officers cordoning off the area around the cathedral, which is one of the major tourist attractions of the German capital. Several ambulances have reportedly left the scene. Some German media reported that at least two people, including a police officer, were injured in the shooting.
Staff at the cathedral called the police around 16:00 local time (15:00 GMT) and said that a person was “rampaging” in the building, according to Berliner Morgenpost daily.
The man allegedly sparked panic among visitors at one of Berlin’s iconic landmarks as he roamed around the building, wielding a knife, Die Welt daily reported. He was then confronted by a police patrol that arrived at the scene.
This information was later confirmed by police, who said there were around 100 people inside the cathedral at the time of the incident.
The elaborate church building dates back to 1095, and is located in the center of the German capital on the historic Museum Island, which also hosts the internationally acclaimed Berlin State Museums, which are popular with tourists visiting the city.
The cathedral itself was visited by as many as 700,000 people last year, according to German media.
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