An armed man was shot dead by German police early on Thursday morning near the Israeli consulate in Munich, southern Germany.
It was the second fatal shooting by police in the country and came days after a knife-wielding man was shot dead. Shot to death 24 hours ago in Bonn.
The B.B.C. Reports Bavarian state police said the suspect in the Munich attack was shot in a shootout and the area around Karolinenplatz was sealed off. Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Hermann confirmed that the suspect had died.
Police said they had no indication that there were any other suspects and urged the public not to post photos of the incident on social media.
People were told to avoid the area around Karolinenplein and the neighbouring Brienner Strasse, and people in nearby homes and office buildings were urged to stay indoors. A police helicopter circled above the scene shortly after.
Police officers on duty in Munich after a major police operation in Munich city center near the Israeli consulate shot and killed a suspect (Peter Knefel/Photo Alliance via Getty Images)
According to a police spokesman Citation According to Sky News, officers took action after spotting a person with a “long gun” in the Karolinenplatz area of the city centre at around 9am.
German media reported that police were heard shouting at pedestrians to “run, run, run” as they exchanged gunfire with the suspect.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said the consulate in Munich was closed at the time of the shooting and that staff were not affected by the incident.
Police said they had stepped up security in Germany's third-largest city, but there were no signs of incidents elsewhere or any other suspects.
Germany's interior minister confirmed that a “serious incident” had occurred in Munich and that protecting Israeli facilities was a “top priority.”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said he had spoken to his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who posted on social media platform X that “we jointly expressed our common condemnation and horror” at the shooting.
It was not clear whether the incident had any connection to Thursday's 52nd anniversary of the attack by Palestinian terrorists on the Israeli Olympic team at the 1972 Munich Olympics, killing 11 Israeli athletes, one West German police officer and five attackers.
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