The 49-year-old officer is in critical condition after the altercation, which the authorities said occurred at 2:30 am.

The 27-year-old suspect came into the Passau police station and engaged the officer in an argument after seeking help for marital problems. He was allegedly intoxicated at the time. During the scuffle he took the officer’s weapon and shot the weapon five times. After one of the bullets struck the officer in the face, the man took him hostage and dragged him into the police station parking lot, hiding between cars.

Then the man shot the police weapon into the air several times until the magazine was empty, after which police overpowered and arrested him.

Doctors put the injured officer into an artificial coma and he is in stable condition, but still unable to answer questions about the incident.

The suspect is married with two children and works as a welder. He apparently had fought with his wife earlier in the evening, after which she left their home.

“During questioning we observed injuries to her face,” a state prosecutor told DPA.

The man is known to police for his long record of theft and assault.

Investigators remain unclear on the origin of the conflict. Police from the nearby town of Straubing will conduct the investigation – a standard practice to insure an independent probe of crimes occurring within police facilities.