The police shot and killed a tenant during an eviction in Cologne on Wednesday.
The 48-year-old had previously attacked the emergency services in the Ostheim district with a knife, said the officials in Cologne and Bonn and the Cologne public prosecutor's office.
After the use of pepper spray and the threat of firearms were unsuccessful, the officers fired.
The man was fatally injured.
The 48-year-old had apparently previously been considered dangerous by the authorities.
According to the police and the public prosecutor's office, he had already made threats if there was an eviction.
The bailiff responsible for the eviction then asked the police for help.
It was initially unclear how many police officers were ultimately involved in the operation.
"It is also checked whether one or more officers shot the injured person," said senior public prosecutor Ulrich Bremer of the German Press Agency.
The public prosecutor's office has started a death investigation to clarify the circumstances of the death.
An autopsy of the body was also ordered.
According to the situation, the threat was directed against the police officers, not against the bailiff.
According to the public prosecutor, the dead man was known to the police and the court.
He was last charged in June 2022 at the Cologne District Court.
"The indictment was based on the allegation that he had resisted police officers after the accused had announced his suicide and kicked the police officers who rushed to his aid," reported chief public prosecutor Bremer.
On Wednesday afternoon, police cars and a hearse could be seen on the street where the apartment was located, which is located in an eastern part of Cologne with several high-rise buildings.
For reasons of neutrality, the investigation into the case was carried out by the police in Bonn, not the Cologne police.