The 24-year-old man called police around 10 pm on Thursday threatening to hurt people with a knife and then kill himself. When three officers arrived at his apartment in the city’s St. Pauli district, the man leapt out of the apartment waving a 40-centimetre knife, a police spokesperson said.
Two of the officers shot the man a total of four times. The man was treated by emergency officials but did not survive.
“We are assuming at the moment that there was an attack on the officers,” the spokesperson said.
The 24-year-old was known to have psychological problems and had been in the custody of mental health workers earlier in the week. He did not have a violent history, though.
The officers involved in the shooting are undergoing counselling.