Police free 2 people after hostage alarm at German bank but find no perpetrators

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Police officers stand at the scene of a hostage-taking at a bank branch in Sinzig, Germany, Friday, May 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

A police officers stands at the scene of an incident where, according to reports, a hostage situation has occurred at a bank branch in Sinzig, Germany, Friday, May 8, 2026. (Thomas Frey/dpa via AP) — Police officers stand at the scene of a hostage-taking at a bank branch in Sinzig, Germany, Friday, May 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

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7:17 AM on Friday, May 8

The Associated Press

BERLIN (AP) — Police in Germany entered a bank in a small German town Friday and rescued two people from a locked room, hours after officers were called to respond to a hostage situation.

Regional police said they were alerted to the situation at the Volksbank branch in Sinzig, a town of about 17,000 people in the Rhine valley near Koblenz, at about 9 a.m. local time. They said they believed there were “several perpetrators and hostages” in the bank and the driver of an armored van was a hostage.

Shortly before 3 p.m., police said special forces entered the bank and freed two people unhurt from a locked room. Police said they found no hostage-takers.

They said that the perpetrator or perpetrators appeared to have left immediately after locking the two people into the vault, but it wasn't clear how that happened. Police did not indicate whether the perpetrators made away with any cash or valuables.