A German police officer on Sunday shot dead a man who threatened people with a knife outside a night club and advanced toward a patrol spraying a suspicious gas, police said.

Law enforcement opened an investigation into the 27-year-old officer who fired several shots at the 21-year-old man in the northern city of Oldenburg, a statement said. The man died from his wounds in hospital.

The incident took place in the early hours Sunday after the assailant “injured and threatened several people”, police said.

After being turned away from a night club, the suspect “sprayed an irritant gas in the direction of two security employees” and several people suffered “light injuries”, police said.

“Some started chasing him but stopped when he threatened them with a knife,” a statement added.

The man got away from a first group of police officers dispatched to the scene, but then ran into another patrol.

He “advanced in a threatening way toward police officers” spraying irritant gas at them, leading the officer “to use his arm”, the statement said.

AFP