Bavaria: Possible hostage situation at Regensburg bank

Police say one person has sustained life-threatening injuries in a bank branch in Regensburg. The standoff is ongoing, and special units are on their way. The suspect is thought to have a knife.

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Police in protective gear walking down a street toward the bank in  Regensburg
Police said they had seen the wounded person from outside the bank, but that they did not yet have accessImage: Moller-Schuh/Vifogra MEDIA/dpa/picture alliance

Police said on Thursday that at least one person had sustained critical wounds amid a potential hostage situation at a bank branch. 

They later said that he was receiving treatment in hospital.

Police do not currently have access to the building, a spokeswoman told the dpa news agency. 

A male suspect is believed to be armed with a knife inside.

What else do we know about the standoff? 

The AFP news agency meanwhile cited a police spokesman as saying it was still too early to define the case as a hostage-taking. He said that because police had not been able to locate the man’s position inside the building, it was not clear if he had taken hostages.

The spokeswoman had told dpa that police were working on the basis that other members of the public or staff were or could be in the building. 

Special units and a police helicopter had been alerted and were en route to the scene.

A series of police vehicles parked on a street in Regensburg, Bavaria, amid a crime at a bank branch. July 23, 2026.
A large police operation was assembling at the sceneImage: Moller-Schuh/Vifogra MEDIA/dpa/picture alliance

The police spokeswoman said that the motive of the suspect was not known and that no demands had yet been issued to police. 

Regensburg is a city of around 150,000 people located roughly between Nuremberg and Munich in eastern Bavaria, not far from the border to the Czech Republic. 

This is a developing story, more to follow… 

Edited by: Sean Sinico

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