Police in the eastern German city have reported that an armed man has taken people hostage in a shopping mall. The body of the suspect's mother was also found earlier in the day.
Police evacuated a shopping mall in the center of the eastern German city of Dresen on Saturday morning amid reports of an armed man taking hostages.
Authorities have opened up a line of contact with the suspected hostage-taker via telephone after he allegedly blockaded himself inside a room in the mall.
A large police presence has been deployed at the Altmarktgalerie mall which has been cordoned off from the public.
"The Dresden Police Department is currently carrying out an operation in downtown Dresden. The background is the suspicion of a hostage situation," the department said in a statement.
Police also said that the nearby Striezelmarkt Christmas market had been closed and asked locals to stay away from the area with a spokesperson telling the German news agency DPA that the situation was still very unclear.
They later confirmed that the body of a 62-year-old woman was found in an apartment in the neighborhood of Prohlis and that the woman was the mother of the 40-year-old suspect.
According to the local radio broadcaster Radio Dresden, the armed man was still at large.
Several local media outlets said that an armed man had first tried to break into the Radio Dresden building and fired his weapon before heading to the Altmarktgalerie mall.
