Cologne, June 7, (dpa/GNA) – Unknown individuals fired multiple shots at a snack bar in the western German city of Cologne during the night, prompting a major police operation involving a helicopter, a spokesman said on Sunday.
The police intervention in Cologne’s Höhenberg district, took place at around 1:30 am (2330 GMT). No one was injured. Several people were arrested during the night, but the spokesman declined to say whether the arrests were directly linked to the shooting.
Police later described the suspects as three men aged 20, 22 and 51. Witnesses observed the shooter getting into a car after the shots were fired. The police located the vehicle with the help of a helicopter.
They apprehended the suspects at the car. The press release added that emergency services had found several bullet casings in front of the snack bar. They had also discovered a firearm near the scene.
Investigations are under way to determine whether this is linked to the incident. The background to the incident is also still under investigation. Investigators said they saw no link to other recent crimes in Cologne.
In early June, bullet holes were discovered in the window front of a Cologne jewellery shop. Two days later, unknown individuals set off an incendiary device outside an ice-cream parlour in Cologne-Raderberg, shattering the glass in the entrance door.
This led to speculation about a link to the so-called Cologne drug war, a series of crimes that developed, following the theft of a large quantity of marijuana from a warehouse
GNA