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The suspect involved in an incident at a movie theatre in southwest Germany has been shot dead, according to local media reports.

Police spokesman Bernd Hochstaedter told the Associated Press that authorities were told an armed man had entered a movie complex Thursday afternoon and shots had apparently been fired.

Local media had originally reported that several people were injured after a man opened fire inside a movie theatre in Viernheim, a town about 70 kilometres south of Frankfurt.

VIDEO: 1 person dead following movie theatre shooting in Germany

0:31 1 person dead following movie theatre shooting in Germany 1 person dead following movie theatre shooting in Germany

1 person dead following movie theatre shooting in Germany

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Citing a local newspaper, Reuters reported that up to 50 people had been injured after a masked man armed with a gun and ammunition belt opened fire around 3 p.m. local time Thursday.

The shooter apparently barricaded himself in the cinema.

WATCH: The situation was tense outside a movie theatre in Germany after reports a gunman opened fire inside

1:53 Several injured after man opens fire in German movie theatre Several injured after man opens fire in German movie theatre

Hochstaedter told the Associated Press that the incident lasted about three hours and no one else was injured.

“We believe that there were no injured people, and that the people who were in the cinema with the perpetrator could be freed uninjured,” the news agency quoted Hochstaedter as saying.