German Police Slay Hostage-Holder

A masked man who held 10 hostages at gunpoint in a German bank was shot to death by a police marksman Saturday, ending a 22-hour siege, officials said.

He had earlier demanded, and received, a ransom of $5.9 million, believed to be the highest ever paid in Germany, prosecutor Manfred Roesner said.

The man, using his captives as human shields, came out of the bank at this city near Cologne to inspect a getaway car he had demanded.

“He looked at the car but did not seem to be satisfied and started walking back into the building with the hostages around him,” Roesner said. “That’s when a police sharpshooter shot him dead.”

The hostages, six men and four women, were not harmed in the shooting, he said. Three were bank employees and the rest were customers.

Roesner said police left the getaway car in the street without an ignition key, which is why the gunman turned to go back.

The man, identified only as Roland H., 30, originally took about 15 hostages inside the bank Friday afternoon. He demanded the ransom and safe passage from the bank, which was surrounded by heavily armed police.

A shot was heard at about midnight, and a shirt stained with blood was thrown out the front door. One hostage, a man in his 60s, was slightly wounded in the shoulder and freed overnight with other captives, including two children.

The gunman was on furlough from jail. Police would not say why he was sentenced or for how long.