Munich police shot dead a person who appeared to be carrying a firearm on Thursday near a museum focusing on the city’s Nazi-era history and the Israeli consulate.
The shooting took place on the 52nd anniversary of September 5, 1972 in Munich Olympics terrorist attack.
According to a police spokesperson, officers noticed a person carrying a “long gun” in the Karolinenplatz area, near central Munich, around 9 a.m. local time.
There was then an exchange of gunfire in which the suspect was seriously injured, but there was nothing to indicate that anyone else was injured, Andreas Franken told reporters. Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann later said the suspect had died of his injuries.
According to a statement published on X (formerly Chirp), police emphasized that there was no evidence of additional suspects and no indication of a wider threat in the city.
AP Photo/Matthias Schrader
Five police officers were on the scene at the time; police were deployed to the area after the shooting. Franken said he had no additional details about the suspect or about his firearm.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry reported that the consulate in Munich was closed at the time of the shooting and confirmed that no consulate staff were injured.
In 1972, the Palestinian militant group Black September orchestrated a deadly attack during the Munich Olympics. Eight militants stormed the Olympic Village, killing two members of the Israeli Olympic team and taking nine others hostage. All nine hostages were later killed during a failed rescue operation.
At a news conference in Berlin, German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser described Thursday’s shooting as “a serious incident” but said she would not speculate on what had happened.
She reiterated that “the protection of Jewish and Israeli facilities is a top priority.”
This is news. More to follow.