The NYPD deployed additional officers to movie theaters across the city after a scare in Germany in which a masked man was shot dead after entering a cinema complex with what appeared to be a rifle and taking several hostages, authorities said.
NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton announced the deployment as a precaution during an unrelated news conference Thursday.
Details about what unfolded at the Kinopolis movie complex in Viernheim, about 40 miles south of Frankfurt, Thursday remain scarce, but Interior Minister Hesse Peter Beuth confirmed a suspect was killed.
Beuth said authorities received an emergency call about a masked man with a long weapon in the cinema complex, but that the suspect "made a confused impression" and it wasn't clear if his weapon was real. He said the suspect was shot by police after taking hostages.
No one else was injured. Police have not identified the suspect or a potential motive.
Footage from outside of the theater showed heavily armed police strapping on bulletproof vests and running towards the building as sirens blared.
Police spokesman Bernd Hochstaedter said the police deployment lasted around three hours.
