Police and special forces are deployed on a large scale in Schwäbisch Gmünd on Saturday. The task forces searched in the morning and into the early afternoon for a man who was allegedly on the move with an axe in the area of the Rokoko Palace in the City Garden. This was reported to the police by a caller at around 8.30 am.
At around 11.30 a.m., police officers were able to find and seize an axe in the Buchstraße area. Since the police assumed that the wanted man was in an exceptional mental state and that it could not be ruled out that he was a danger to himself and others, the officers asked for information from the public: a 40-year-old man with a dark complexion and a full black beard, about 175 centimetres tall, was wanted.
The flat of the 40-year-old man in the street Bismarckstraße was also searched by special forces. A short time later, the wanted man was spotted in the area of the street Kaspar-Vogt-Straße and arrested. The investigation into the incident is ongoing.
After a witness reported a man shouting loudly and aggressively near the Rococo Palace in the City Garden at around 8.30 a.m., the police immediately initiated a manhunt in the Gmünd city area. Due to the report that the person was carrying an axe, the police were deployed with strong forces.
Shortly after 11 a.m., the special forces arrived with a large contingent in the Gmünd district of Oststadt, and heavily armed police officers with protective gear were also deployed, a journalist reported. According to unconfirmed information from eyewitnesses, the former district military replacement office in the street Bismarckstraße was completely surrounded by the task forces in the morning. At 11.56 a.m. the building was stormed – without success. Four ambulances and an emergency doctor were also on the scene – as well as countless police officers.