German special police leave their cars after a masked man with a gun and ammunition belt opened fire in a cinema complex in the small western town of Viernheim, near Frankfurt, Germany, June 23, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

BERLIN - A gunman was shot dead at a cinema in western Germany on Thursday by special forces, German newspaper Handelsblatt reported, adding that the deceased appeared to be a "confused man".

The gunman had a rifle or "long gun" and special forces intervened and shot him, interior minister Peter Beuth told the Hesse state parliament. There was no evidence that anyone besides the gunman was injured or killed, Beuth added.

N-TV television channel quoted a police officer saying that the attacker took hostages before police shot him dead at the Kinopolis complex in Viernheim.

German television showed pictures of heavily armed police, wearing helmets and body armour, storming the cinema and a couple fleeing the building.

German media said earlier that the masked man had opened fire at the cinema complex in the small town near Frankfurt.