A police operation maintains cordoned off for several hours a pharmacy in the center of Karlsruhe (Southern Germany), where an unknown assailant has allegedly taken several hostages.

The Karlsruhe Police asked citizens, via Twitter, to avoid the area around Ettlinger Streetwhich remains cordoned off since it has not yet been clarified to what extent there is a risk to the public. The German media reported that the assault began around 4:30 p.m., although hardly any details have been released since then, beyond the fact that the police are in contact with the individual or individuals who have entrenched themselves in the pharmacy.

There is only one assailant armed with a firearm that he has taken two hostages and that he is asking for a large amount of money in exchange for their release, according to EFE, citing the newspaper “Stuttgarter Nachrichten”. Several witnesses have reported that they heard shotsaccording to this same medium.

Various events in the vicinity of the pharmacy were canceled as a precaution and the authorities opened a makeshift shelter to accommodate citizens who, due to the closure of the surrounding streets, were unable to return to their homes.

The events occur less than 24 hours after the an assailant breaks into a religious service of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the northern city of hamburg and killed seven people before taking his own life when special police forces arrived. The Hamburg attacker was a former Jehovah’s Witness who had left the community last year and had gained little after a gun permit, according to information that has been made public. There are also indications of a possible psychiatric disorder.