Man fires shots at police in Germany, releases child

A man has shot at police officers from a house in the German state of Brandenburg where he had locked himself in with a child, reported dpa.

A special task force has been deployed to the scene since Friday afternoon due to an initial suspected threat to the child's welfare.

The village is about 120 kilometres west of Berlin in the state of Brandenburg.

According to initial reports, there were four people in the house: two men, the child and its mother.

The mother left the house during the night and the youth welfare office took the child into their care.

One of the men was arrested after leaving the house with a firearm late Friday afternoon, a spokeswoman from the Brandenburg Police told dpa on Saturday.

The second man, who allegedly had fired the shots at the police, was still in the building. Dozens of members of the emergency services and numerous police cars were still at the scene on Saturday.

A dpa reporter on Saturday said a blast was heard in front of the building, and an armoured vehicle was moving towards it, but the police did not want to disclose any details about an operation in progress.

The police had arrived at the scene of the incident in the Havelland district early on Friday afternoon. There was no danger to the general public at any time, said the spokeswoman. However, the main road in the small village of Vieritz was closed as a precaution.

Some residents were not allowed into their homes.

The reason behind the incident was initially unclear.

Police also gave no details about the armed person. According to the police, the incident was preceded by an order from the local court, initiated by the youth welfare office.