Masked gunman shot dead after storming cinema in Germany

A masked gunman has been shot dead by police after storming a cinema in Germany and taking hostages.

The gunman, said to be wearing a mask and an ammunition belt, entered the Kinopolis cinema complex in the town of Viernheim at around 3pm local time (11pm AEST) before barricading himself inside.

Officers "successively entered the cinema and were able to locate the man and the people he was holding," Kobus told The Associated Press.

"There was a threat situation and the man was then shot dead by a colleague."

Police said that the deployment lasted about three hours. There were no other injuries.

Kobus said she had no information on the assailant's identity and motives.

Another police spokesman, Bernd Hochstaedter, said that "there are no indications at present of an Islamist background".

Hesse state's interior minister, Peter Beuth, said it wasn't clear whether the weapon was functional, and police said they were still checking that.

Beuth told the regional legislature in Wiesbaden that the man had been masked and that apparently four shots were fired.

He also said the gunman appeared to have been a "disturbed man".

Nina Reininger, a prosecutor in nearby Darmstadt, said her office was investigating but she had no information so far on the attacker's identity.

The Kinopolis, a multiplex theatre, is located in a shopping mall in Viernheim, which is near the city of Mannheim.

The incident happened on a hot summer afternoon and the cinema appears to have been relatively empty at the time.

The attack is said to have happened during a screening of Alice Through the Looking Glass, with some children in the audience.

With AFP