The armed man who took six people hostage in a French bank has surrendered to police after a six-hour standoff.
All the hostages, who were held at gunpoint at the BRED bank in downtown Le Havre starting at about 5 p.m. local time on Thursday, either were freed or escaped. A police union official said the suspect was arrested without the use of weapons, according to France 24.
Authorities feared that there was a bag containing explosives, prompting a bomb squad to be dispatched to the scene.
The French National Police’s tactical RAID unit arrived at the bank shortly after the standoff began and blocked off a large area near the bank. The elite unit spent hours negotiating with the suspect, who is a 34-year-old man believed to have Islamist ties, two senior police officials told Reuters. The suspect also reportedly has mental health issues.
“We’ve identified him. He’s on a watchlist. We know that he has been radicalized and suffers a serious psychiatric illness,” said Yves Lefebvre, the head of the SGP Unite police union.
The hostages consisted of both bank employees and customers. Le Havre is a port city located in the Normandy region of France.
