"We are near the Forum Kopenick trade centre on Bahnhofstrasse street. We received a phone call from a bank branch regarding a menacing situation. This led to a police operation. Forum Kopenick has been evacuated by now. There are 200 police officers working at the scene ... At the moment, we can say that there are three people in the bank, including the criminal, but we cannot say what his motives are," a police spokeswoman said.
She added that the police had made contact with the criminal, however, it was impossible to identify the other two as either hostages or associates at the time.
Earlier in the day, the police informed Sputnik about an armed bank robbery in Berlin's south-eastern Kopenick area.