Berlin, July 11, 2026
A 29-year-old man took a woman into his control on Friday evening in a Rewe supermarket in the Berlin district of Marienfelde; special police tactical units ended the hostage-taking on Saturday morning after roughly eleven hours.
According to police, the perpetrator had threatened the woman in the store at the corner of Hildburghauser Straße and Tirschenreuther Ring shortly after 10:00 p.m. The supermarket and the surrounding area were subsequently cordoned off on a large scale, and residents were asked to avoid the area. Throughout the more than eleven-hour standoff, police secured the crime scene over a wide perimeter.
Police spokesperson Florian Nath said on Saturday that it was an operation in which no one was seriously harmed. "Glücklicherweise ist hier niemand größer zu Schaden gekommen," he said. Nath was initially unable to provide information about the health condition of the freed woman. It was later reported that she and the 29-year-old had remained largely uninjured.
Course of the hostage-taking
On Saturday morning at around 9:20 a.m., special tactical units succeeded in overpowering the man and freeing the woman. Photos and videos from the scene that circulated on social media showed, among other things, the use of a taser and the application of handcuffs. The Berlin police later confirmed the sequence of events and the deployment of a special tactical unit (SEK).