Police say that an armed suspect, who was accused of killing his mother and taking two hostages in Dresden, has been killed.

After a nine-year-old boy and a 38 year-old worker in the shop, officers said they had been communicating with a German 40-year old after he barricaded his self in a shopping center with a child.

Three hundred officers, special forces included, responded to the hostage situation. It ended shortly after noon Saturday.

The unnamed man was killed in a confrontation with police.

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“The attack on the hostages and their liberation resulted in the death of the 40-year old. “The specific circumstances of the attack and the liberation of the hostages are under investigation,” said the police of the state of Saxony (of which Dresden is the capital) via Twitter.

He is accused of murdering his mother, 62. She was found dead in Dresden’s other part in the early hours Saturday morning before he traveled to the city center.

Around 8.30 a.m. local time, he entered an Ammonstrasse building and fired shots at the radio station’s door.

Saxony Police stated that he had the nine-year old, who was believed to have been a friend’s child, at the time.

Radio Dresden staff reported that an armed man entered the Ammonhof building where the broadcaster was located and fired several shots.

After driving the child to Altmarkt-Galerie, the suspect took the worker hostage before barricading them in an office.

The man called police who confirmed that they had been in touch with him. A negotiating team was on-site shortly after 11.30am.

The mall was evacuated, and Dresden’s Striezelmarkt Christmas Market was closed while the operation to liberate the hostages was underway.

Suspect was mentally ill

After hearing gunshots during the standoff, police stormed the office and forced a door to allow entry.

According to police, the hostages were not in any way hurt during the ordeal.

Thomas Geithner, a spokesperson for the police, stated that the suspect was mentally ill according to previous investigations.

Separately, police confirmed that his mother, 62-year-old, was found dead in an apartment in the Prohlis neighborhood of the city.

After a foiled plot by far-right to overthrow Germany’s government, security has been refocused in Germanyin the last few days. The plan was to install an aristocrat at the head of a new state.