It is being examined whether the operations could be related to one another. The suspect was arrested after he allegedly drove into a store in a van, a police spokesman said. According to one WDR report it is a 41-year-old man. After driving a white van to a vegetable shop near the Katernberg market, he is said to have threatened someone with a knife and a machete.
Citing information from the Essen fire department, WDR also reported that around 5 p.m., fire broke out simultaneously in two residential buildings in the Altenessen and Stoppenberg districts, a few minutes apart. There was an enormous amount of smoke, a spokesman for the fire department told the German Press Agency. The fire broke out in the stairwell of a residential building. The escape route therefore remained blocked for the residents of the house.
The emergency services had to rescue people using ladders after residents drew attention to themselves through the windows. Two children are said to be in mortal danger. Another child and two adults were seriously injured and seven people were slightly injured. Eleven people were injured in another fire in a residential building in the city, and eight others sustained minor injuries. All injured people were taken to hospitals.
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