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Police in Bonn shoot asylum seeker

August 2, 2015

An asylum seeker has been shot and wounded at a refugee center in Bonn in the west of Germany. The incident followed a dispute between two residents at the center.

https://p.dw.com/p/1G8Wh
Bonn Streit in Flüchtlingsheim
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/C. Seidel

Police from the SEK special operations command of the state police force were called to the St. Paulus home in Endenich, a suburb of Bonn, on Saturday evening. The home is being used as a refugee center for up to 200 people. There were 50 residents reported to have been at the scene at the time of the incident.

Events began when a 23-year-old asylum seeker from Guinea attacked another man with a knife, slightly injuring him.

The refugee from Guinea then barricaded himself in a second-floor room. Authorities tried to talk with him but the situation escalated and he jumped out of a window, still armed with a knife.

A police spokesman said officers had tried to use a spray to pacify him to prevent anyone else being put in danger. The local "Express" newspaper reported that police fired tear gas at the refugee and then shot him six times.

SEK Schule mutmaßlicher Amokschütze Jagd Mann Gewehr Marzahn Dahlmann Schule
Image: AP

Badly injured, the man was taken to the University hospital in Bonn where he is believed to be in a stable condition.

An investigation is under way.

The Federal Office for Migrants and Refugees (BAMF) has recorded 258,000 requests for asylum so far this year although the conservative "Die Welt" newspaper claims more than 300,000 asylum seekers have already been registered this year.

Since the start of the year there have been 202 violent incidents against existing or planned refugee centers.

jm/ng (AFP, dpa)