Police officer shoots man with knife at Berlin Cathedral

A man brandishing a knife inside Berlin Cathedral has been shot and wounded by police. A second police officer was wounded in the crossfire.

A German police officer shot and wounded a knife-wielding man inside Berlin Cathedral on Sunday after staff called the emergency services.

Footage posted online showed armed police officers cordoning off the area around the cathedral — one of Berlin’s most popular tourist attractions — with two ambulances parked at the entrance. Witnesses said that armed officers were patrolling the area.

Police later said they had shot at a man “rampaging” in the church, injuring him in the leg. They described the suspect as a “hooligan,” who was “acting aggressively.”

Witnesses told local media that they observed the man “acting strangely.”

Berlin police spokesman Winfrid Wenzel said there was no reason to suspect the knife-wielding man’s actions were linked to terrorism.

“Based on what we know so far, we have no information that the suspect in any way had a terrorist or Islamist motive,” Wenzel said.

Police went on to disclose that the suspect was a 53-year-old Austrian man. He was taken to a local hospital to undergo surgery after being shot by police in the leg.

Source: DW