UPDATED: 16:50
German police say a man has died and a woman was seriously wounded in a shooting at a hair salon in the western town of Dueren.
The dpa news agency reported that a police armed response unit was sent to the site after reports of several shots being fired Tuesday.
It quoted a Dueren police spokeswoman saying that on arrival officers found two seriously wounded people in the salon.
The man died shortly afterward, and the woman was being treated.
Shooting was reported in the town of Dueren in northwest Germany.
German media report that there is a “heavy police presence” at the scene, adding that the Old Town has been closed off.
DPA reports that the shooting occurred at a hair salon, and "at least one shot" was fired.
Germany’s Focus magazine reports that a man has barricaded himself in an apartment located not far from the shooting scene, and that he may have taken at least one person hostage.
A police special forces unit (SEK) is now preparing to storm the apartment, local media say.
#düren pic.twitter.com/CQrCd995wg
— naliniho (@broonxparty) October 18, 2016
Meanwhile, another shooting incident happened in the town of Hagen, located about 100km away from Dueren, German N-TV reports.
There, a man armed "with a sword or a long knife" was shot dead by police, DPA reports. The man was chasing another man, who was already injured.
Police officers demanded that the man drop his weapon. After the armed suspect ignored a warning shot, an officer shot him. The motives of the armed man are still unclear. Hagen police have not yet issued any official statement concerning the incident.
