BERLIN, Germany (AP) — German media report that a tiger has killed a female keeper after escaping from its enclosure at Cologne Zoo.

The Dapd News Agency cites a police spokesman as saying the tiger was shot dead by staff at the zoo in western Germany.

Visitors weren't harmed during the incident last Saturday.

The tiger managed to get from the enclosure to an adjacent storage building, where it attacked the 43-year-old keeper, said police spokesman Stefan Kirchner.

"It appears the gate wasn't properly shut," Kirchner told The Associated Press.

The zoo's director used a rifle to shoot the animal dead through the storage building's skylight before it could make its way to the visitor areas, he added.