A masked man took hostages at a cinema in western Germany on Thursday before police stormed the complex and shot him dead, police said. No other people were injured, a police spokesman stated.

The attacker, who carried a rifle or “long gun”, acted alone and appeared to have been a “disturbed man”, the interior minister of Hesse state, Peter Beuth, told the regional parliament.

Police had not identified the man or established his motive, spokesman Bernd Hochstaedter said, adding that nothing immediately pointed to him having a militant background.

German television showed pictures of heavily-armed police, wearing helmets and body armor, storming the Kinopolis complex in Viernheim, south of Frankfurt, and a couple fleeing the building.

Cinema employee Guri Blakaj said that the gunman, who appeared to be aged between 18 and 25 and was about 1.7 meters tall, entered the cinema at around 3 p.m. and told workers to get into an office.

He then went into a cinema theater. Blakaj, who said there were about six workers and 30 cinemagoers in the building, then heard shots fired. Police Special Forces stormed the building and shot him.

There was still a heavy police presence at the scene into the late afternoon, and a helicopter circled overhead. The Darmstaedter Echo said 20 to 50 people had been wounded. But Bild daily said that according to police, about 25 people were hurt because of exposure to tear gas.

Earlier, Focus Online magazine reported that German police had arrested the man. Police were not immediately available for comment.