Man injures pedestrians at Cologne Bonn Airport

A man drove a stolen rental minibus into several parked vehicles in a parking garage at Cologne Bonn Airport on Friday, injuring several people mildly, police said. 

Police said in a press release that the man, who was known to them and believed to have a psychiatric illness, "rammed several parked cars and injured several people in the parking lot of the Cologne Bonn Airport in a stolen Minibus." 

"Currently, police believe three people suffered light injuries, including one who was pinned by the vehicle. Two police officers were also injured by the 57-year-old when apprehending him." 

The event took place at roughly 9:30 a.m. local time (0830 GMT/UTC), the parking area was briefly sealed off in the aftermath.

Eyewitnesses said the vehicle had been parked ready for cleaning in the parking lot, where some of the rental vehicles are also stored, when the suspect jumped in and started targeting other vehicles and pedestrians. He pinned one car trying to enter the parking lot up against a bollard.

"He kept switching between driving forwards and backwards," the police spokesman said, until his vehicle was hemmed in and could no longer move.

Police said there were indications that the man had mental health issues and was not hurt in the arrest.

He was then taken to a Cologne hospital where he was undergoing psychological analysis before he is taken to a psychiatric hospital.

German news agency dpa quoted a police spokesman as saying that the man, a 57-year-old Ghanaian national resident in nearby Bielefeld, had twice been asked to leave the airport in the minutes before the suspected crime after his behavior drew their attention. He said he could not comment on the exact reasons. 

js, msh/rc (dpa, AP, Reuters)