Police arrest man after woman escapes window during family dispute

Police arrested a 66-year-old German national after a 20-year-old woman escaped from an apartment through a ground-floor window during a family dispute in Wernstein, Schärding district, ORF reported.

The woman called police at about 1 p.m. on Tuesday and initially said the man was preventing her and her mother from leaving the apartment through an implied threat of firearms. She also told officers that he had a knife within reach and several guns.

Several police patrols went to the apartment and established an operations centre. The Cobra special forces unit and the Rapid Intervention Group were also called in.

Shortly before 4 p.m., the woman left the apartment through a ground-floor window. Cobra officers then arrested the man. Nobody was injured.

A subsequent search found four firearms, which police said the man legally owned, as well as a prohibited cosh, numerous knives, ammunition and gun parts.

During later interviews, however, police determined that the man had not directly or indirectly threatened either woman with firearms.

Authorities issued an order banning him from entering or approaching the women, along with a temporary weapons ban. Police also reported him to the Ried public prosecutor’s office.