Toby Sterling

AMSTERDAM (Reuters). The Dutch police have stopped a hostage-taking at the Apple (NASDAQ;) flagship store Amsterdam. Police said that a man armed only with one gun held at most one person hostage in Amsterdam for over an hour.

The suspect hostage-taker was a 27 year old Amsterdam man who ran from the Leidseplein square shortly after 10:30 PM (2130 GMT).

Police stated on Twitter that they had struck the hostage-taker with a vehicle when he fled outside.

A pistol and an automated rifle were both on the man’s person when police arrived in the area at 6:45 p.m. Frank Pauw, chief of Amsterdam Police, said that the suspect fired at least four rounds at police.

Pauw claimed that the suspect, who was a criminal, had called the police during the hostage-taking, asking for a ransom in cryptocurrency currencies of 200 million euros ($226million) and safe passage from the building.

Amsterdam newspaper Parool quotes the police chief saying that he had threatened hostages and threatened them with gunshots.

After the police robot arrived at the shop’s door, it delivered water and the situation was over.

He ran for the hostage-taker and was soon hit by the vehicle.

Pauw stated that the hostage had played a heroic role in forcing a breakthrough. This could have been an extremely long night without the hostage.

Around 70 people managed to escape the store during the night, while hostage taking was ongoing. No other injuries were reported.

Police said that the hostage-taker had suffered serious injuries but was able speak after being arrested.