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German police kill US soldier

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German police kill US soldier
An archive picture of a US solider in Germany. Photo: dpa

A US soldier in Bavaria died on Friday of wounds inflicted by German police who shot him on after he held his ex-girlfriend at gunpoint.

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"We can confirm that an incident occurred and one US soldier is dead," Bruce Anderson, US Army public affairs officer in Heidelberg told The Local. The army will not release more details until next of kin have been notified, he said.

The US Army soldier broke into his ex-girlfriend's Königsberg home in the German state of Bavaria around 8:45 pm on Thursday evening. He then bound her and threatened her with an assault rifle, according to a Würzburg police statement on Friday.

After managing to escape, the woman called police, who secured a large area around the home. Because he was heavily armed, the police used a helicopter and an infrared camera to locate the 30-year-old man about an hour later.

According to police, the soldier, who was stationed at the US Army base in Schweinfurt, threatened the elite police unit as they attempted to arrest him, and they were forced to open fire. According to a statement from the US Army on Friday morning, US military authorities were also involved in the confrontation.

The soldier sustained life threatening injuries and was transported to a hospital in Schweinfurt for an emergency operation. US Army officials were called to the hospital to help manage the situation.

The soldier, from the 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division "Dagger" Brigade, died from a gun-shot wound on Friday morning at Leopoldina Hospital in Schweinfurt, the US Army statement said.

"The Dagger Brigade Chain of Command is cooperating fully with the investigation being conducted jointly by U.S. Army and German authorities," the statement said. "The Dagger Brigade along with United States Army Europe takes incidents of this nature extremely seriously and will continue to work with the German authorities to maintain community safety."

Late on Friday afternoon, the prosecutor's office in the southern city of Bamberg said there was no indication that German officers used excessive force, and there were no plans to investigate the police officer who shot the soldier.

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