Shooting in the city at the Euro 2024: Police shoot at “man with hammer”

BERLIN – German police said Sunday they shot and wounded a man in the northern city of Hamburg who threatened them with a pickaxe and a Molotov cocktail, hours before the city was set to host a European soccer championship match.

Police officers opened fire after the man, a 39-year-old German, refused to put down the hammer and Molotov cocktail, hitting him in the leg, Hamburg police said in a statement. The man was taken to hospital with his injuries, they said. No one else was injured.

The incident occurred in the St. Pauli district of the northern port city, where many fans gathered ahead of the Group D match between the Netherlands and Poland on Sunday. Police said the man may be suffering from a mental illness and there was no indication the incident was related to the Euro 2024 match.

A police spokesman had previously described the tool as an axe.

Fearing possible fan violence and extremist attacks, German authorities have placed the police on high alert for the duration of the tournament, which began on Friday and runs until July 14.

On Friday, police shot dead an Afghan man after he killed a fellow countryman and later injured three people who were watching the televised match between Germany and Scotland in a town in eastern Germany. Police said on Sunday that the motive for the attack was still unclear.