Hamburg hostage crisis ‘over’ – police

Officers arrested an armed suspect and freed his child captive

Police have arrested an armed man who rammed his vehicle through a security gate at Hamburg Airport in Germany with his four-year-old daughter in the car. Following hours of negotiations, the man was detained without resistance and his child released unharmed.

The suspect crashed his vehicle through the gate at around 8pm on Saturday, before coming to a stop on the tarmac. He threw two Molotov cocktails out of the vehicle and reportedly fired a pistol into the air. Emergency vehicles swarmed the airport and officers got in contact with the suspect, who they said spoke Turkish.

By Sunday afternoon, the talks were successful. “The hostage situation is over,” Hamburg Police said in a statement on social media. “The suspect got out of the car with his daughter. The man was arrested by the emergency services without resistance. The child appears to be unharmed.”

The situation apparently began as a custody dispute, with police saying that the man’s wife called them to report the possible kidnapping of her child. A police spokeswoman told German broadcaster ZDF that the man disagreed with the custody arrangement and wanted to take the child to Türkiye.

READ MORE: Police respond to hostage crisis at German airport

The standoff led to all flights in and out of Hamburg Airport being canceled, with service set to resume on Sunday afternoon. Airport authorities warned that delays and diversions will persist throughout the day, however.