AUTHORITIES say that a mother and her son have died and two police officers were seriously injured after police were called to an altercation at an apartment in southwestern Germany.

Prosecutors said the 56-year-old mother had on Friday called police to the apartment in Kirchheim an der Weinstrasse, a small town near Mannheim.

She told officers that her 25-year-old son was having a “psychotic episode,” was on drugs and had attacked her.

The son apparently stabbed two police officers with scissors. The two officers used their firearms in defence, police said.

The assailant was hit by police gunfire and died of his injuries.

Prosecutors said that the mother also died, and a forensic examination will be required to establish the cause of death.

Police had been deployed at about 8.30am on Friday (5.30pm AEST) to deal with the “dangerous situation” which left a male and a female police officer seriously injured.

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