15 October 2018•Update: 16 October 2018
By Ayhan Simsek
BERLIN
German authorities said on Monday that they could not rule out terrorism as a possible motive for today’s hostage-taking incident in Cologne Central Station.
The 55-year-old suspect was shot during a rescue operation and hospitalized in critical condition, Police Vice President Miriam Brauns told a news conference in Cologne.
“We are investigating in all directions, and not ruling out a possible terror attack,” Brauns said.
The woman who was held hostage by the suspect for almost two hours at a pharmacy inside Cologne’s main railway station sustained light injuries.
A 14-year-old girl was also injured when the suspect threw a Molotov cocktail inside a nearby McDonald's restaurant, before taking the other woman hostage.
Klaus Rueschenschmidt, head of operations at the police department, said several witnesses claimed that the suspect told them he was a member of the terrorist group and threatened to burn people at the restaurant unless his demands were met.
The police had found an ID document belonging to a Syrian refugee in the and believed that it belonged to the perpetrator.
