05 September 2024 , 14:16
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Man carrying ‘long-barrelled gun’ died after being shot by officers near the consulate and Nazi documentation centre
German police have shot dead a man carrying a “long-barrelled gun” after an exchange of fire near the Israeli consulate and a Nazi history museum in Munich.
Witnesses reported hearing a flurry of gunshots at just after 9am local time. A police spokesperson confirmed the reports, adding that there was no indication any other suspects were involved.
Ronen Steinke, a journalist from the Munich-based Süddeutsche Zeitung, posted mobile phone footage of the shooting on X that he had apparently recorded from his office.
The Israeli general consulate and the nearby Nazi documentation centre are under constant police watch, but have been under increased surveillance since the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East.
The suspect was reportedly a teenage Austrian national who had recently travelled to Germany and lived in the Salzburg area, according to the Standard and Spiegel news outlets, which also reported that he was known to the security authorities as an Islamist. Police in Munich declined to comment on the report and said they were not sharing information about the suspect.
A police spokesperson in the Bavarian state capital said the man had a “long-barrelled gun” that proved to be an old rifle.
Local media outlets were quick to point out that the incident took place on the 52nd anniversary of the assassination attacks at the Munich Olympics of 1972 in which Palestinian terrorists killed two Israeli athletes and took nine others hostage, who were subsequently killed in a botched rescue attempt. The terrorists had wanted to obtain the release of 200 prisoners in Israel, as well as the Red Army Faction terrorists Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof.
No immediate connection between the incident and the anniversary was made by police. There was no indication of further suspects or of any injured persons.
In a statement on X, the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, expressed “horror” at what he described as a terror attack.
“I spoke now with President of Germany, my dear friend Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Together we expressed our shared condemnation and horror at the terror attack this morning near the Israeli consulate in Munich,” Herzog said.
Police told the public to avoid the area around Karolinenplatz and urged those in residential and office buildings to stay put as the location was sealed off and a police helicopter patrolled overhead.
Benedikt Frank, the deputy director and chief executive of the Munich Security Conference (MSC), which is hosted annually in the city, whose office is located in the area, said he and colleagues were trapped in the building during the police operation.
“Our office, which is right next to the Nazi documentation centre in Munich’s city centre has been sealed off by the police. Our employees all find themselves in lockdown right now,” he told the tabloid Bild.
He added: “At 9.10am there was suddenly a loud bang. We heard at least a dozen shots. We don’t know anything else at this stage. There is currently a large number of emergency personnel on the street.”
The area in which the incident occurred is considered to be particularly historically sensitive. The Nazi documentation centre, which was opened in 2015, was built on the ruins of the so-called “Brown House”, the former party headquarters of the Nazis. The Israeli general consulate moved into the former Nazi party quarter at about the same time. Both buildings are afforded special protection on the grounds that they are considered at high risk of attack.
According to Israeli media, the consulate was closed at the time of the incident and no staff were present as a memorial ceremony to mark the Munich Olympics massacre was taking place at the same time.