On Wednesday morning, police intervened in a hostage situation in an apartment on Vaclavska in Brno. A 37-year-old man held a 65-year-old woman captive in her apartment, along with two children and their mother, threatening to kill them unless a TV crew came to interview him. Photo credit: Police CR.
Brno, Jan 21 (BD) -Yesterday, a 37-year old man was arrested after holding four hostages captive in an apartment on Vaclavska in Brno. The perpetrator detained a 65-year-old woman in her apartment, along with another woman and her two children, a six-year-old boy and three-year-old girl.
The man contacted the police by telephone and threatened to kill the hostages unless a TV crew arrived to interview him. He called the emergency number several times until he reached a negotiator.
‘‘The result of more than 90 minutes of relatively emotional negotiations was the release of both children. However, the man did not react properly to further attempts to negotiate,’’ said Bohumil Malášek, spokesman for the South Moravian Police.
An intervention unit was dispatched to the scene with support from a police helicopter and officers entered the apartment by force. The police were able to stabilise the situation and pacified the man using a stun gun. Neither the perpetrator or the hostages were harmed in the intervention.
“At first we took the two children in care. We checked their health, they were upset, but fine. After the perpetrator was apprehended, we examined two more adult women, and they had not suffered any injuries either,” said Michaela Bothová, a spokesperson for the rescue services.
Further investigations will now be carried out to determine the man’s motives and his relationship to the hostages. According to the police, this is not his first offence; he made threats of a similar kind in Přerov earlier this year.
