Munich police officers shoot dead ‘suspicious’ person near Nazi-era museum and Israeli Consulate
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Police in Munich have shot dead a ‘suspicious’ person near a Nazi-era museum and the Israeli Consulate.
The man, identified as an 18-year-old Austrian national, died at the scene after exchanging fire with police, the interior minister for the German state of Bavaria said on Thursday.
Police said the suspect fired shots from an old carbine rifle with a bayonet attached in Munich’s Maxvorstadt district, near both the consulate and the museum, before being shot by five officers.
There was no indication that anyone else was hurt.
The suspect was already known to Austrian authorities and had been reported to police last year for alleged membership of an extremist group, a spokesperson for Austria’s interior ministry in Vienna said.
He was described as a “lone perpetrator who is radicalised”, by Franz Ruf, Austria’s general director for public security.
The shooting happened on the 52nd anniversary of the Munich Olympic attacks which saw 11 Israeli athletes killed by Palestinian gunmen back in 1972.
It was unclear whether the incident was in any way related to the anniversary and police said the suspect’s motivation was one focus of the ongoing investigation.
According to one of Germany’s biggest daily papers, Süddeutsche Zeitung, a local resident heard gunshots and police sirens and there were dozens of officers at the scene.
Shouts of “run, run” could be heard, they added.
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Benedikt Franke, deputy chairman and CEO of the Munich Security Conference (MSC), told BILD his office, located right next to the museum, reportedly the Munich Documentation Centre, had been cordoned off and staff were under lockdown.
He said there was a “loud bang” at 9.10am and “at least a dozen shots” were heard.
Israel’s foreign ministry said the consulate in Munich was closed when the shooting occurred and that no staff had been affected by the incident.
Police said they had increased their presence in the city, Germany’s third-biggest, but they had no indication of incidents at any other locations or of any other suspects.
Germany’s interior minister said there was a “serious incident” in Munich and the protection of Israeli facilities was of the “highest priority”.
A helicopter had also been deployed to provide a better overview of the situation.
Pic: AP
The museum – the Documentation Centre for the History of National Socialism, is located near the Israeli Consulate in Munich’s Maxvorstadt neighbourhood.
Police said earlier a large operation was under way in response to an incident and asked the public to avoid the area
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