The suspect was identified as Yves Rausch, 31, and was nicknamed in the local media and on social media after he disappeared into the woods after an altercation with the police.
On Sunday, police reported that officers were called about a man “dressed in camouflage” with a bow and arrow.
Rausch initially cooperated with officers, before threatening them with a weapon and successfully disarming them from their “service weapons” before disappearing into the forest.
“A large force of several hundred emergency services” and helicopters were deployed around the city of Oppenau for search efforts, authorities said.
Juergen Rieger, the head of the search operation said Rausch was found sitting in a bush “with four weapons visible in front of him,” after a warning from two witnesses, the Agence France-Presse news agency reported.
Reiger added that Rausch had an ax in his lap, another pistol, and there was a letter in front of him, AFP reported.
Friday’s arrest ends a five-day search that seized the local area. As of Thursday morning local time, investigators had received more than 270 clues from the public about Rausch’s whereabouts in the forest.
Police have reason to believe that Rausch “had no permanent residence” and that he potentially lived in the forest.
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