COLOGNE: Cologne police shot a 16-year-old on Tuesday evening who witnesses said had threatened several people with a knife.
According to German news agency (dpa), a police statement said that several people telephoned the emergency number to report that the young man was chasing people down the street while wielding a knife.
The teenager was taken to hospital with a gunshot wound shortly after 8 pm. Officials say he is receiving intensive medical treatment but suffered non-life threatening injuries.
A procedural investigation into the use of police firearms was launched, according to a statement released early Wednesday by the public prosecutor’s office and police.
For reasons of neutrality, police in the nearby city of Bonn have taken over the investigation.
How many shots were fired and where the young man was hit remained unclear at first. Police had a doctor take blood samples from the teenager, as there were indications of alcohol or drug use. -Bernama