A lone shooter in the town of Vernheim, in the state of Hessen, Germany, was killed after a short-lived standoff with police.

The masked and heavily armed man entered a movie theater around 3pm on Thursday afternoon and fired four shots, according to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ). The shooter barricaded himself in the cinema and took hostages.

The attacker was subsequently shot and killed by police, the Hessen interior minister confirmed to local media.

German outlets say that up to 50 cinema-goers were injured by tear gas, while English-speaking media were reporting that 25 were injured.

Die Zeit is reporting that no cinema visitors were shot.