“There is no place for anti-Semitism or Islamic extremism in Germany,” the German chancellor said after Munich police shot and killed a man carrying a “long-barreled gun” following a shootout near the Israeli consulate.
Bavarian state police and prosecutors said in a joint statement that the man was believed to have been planning a terror attack “involving the consulate of the State of Israel.”
Ronen Steinke, a journalist for the Munich-based Süddeutsche Zeitung, posted: Mobile phone footage He apparently filmed the shooting of X, which he was recording from his office. Gunshots were reported to have rang out just after 9am local time.
A police spokesman said the man was in possession of a “long-barreled gun”, which turned out to be an antique rifle.
The Israeli consulate and the nearby Nazi documentation center are always under police surveillance, but surveillance has been stepped up since the conflict in the Middle East escalated.
The Standard and Der Spiegel newspapers reported that the suspect was an Austrian teenager who had recently travelled to Germany and was living in the Salzburg area, and that security authorities also reported that he was known to them as a Muslim. Munich police declined to comment on the reports, saying they did not share any information about the suspect.
In a post on X, Prime Minister Olaf Scholz praised the “fast reaction” of emergency services which may have “avoided a terrible incident”. He added that “anti-Semitism and Islamism have no place here”.
Local media were quick to point out that the incident occurred on the 52nd anniversary of the 1972 Munich Olympic attacks, in which Palestinian terrorists killed two Israeli athletes and took nine more hostage, then killed them in a botched rescue mission. The terrorists were demanding the release of 200 Israeli prisoners, as well as Red Army Faction terrorists Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof.
Police did not offer any direct link between the incident and the anniversary, but Bavarian Premier Markus Soeder said there was a “frightening suspicion” that the attack had been planned on that day.
There were no signs of additional suspects or injuries.
In a statement, Israeli President Isaac Herzog expressed “horror” at what he called a terrorist attack.
“I have just spoken with my dear friend, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Together we expressed our shared condemnation and horror at the terrorist attack that took place this morning near the Israeli Consulate in Munich,” Herzog said.
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Police told the public to avoid the Karolinen Square area and asked people inside homes and office buildings to stay put as the scene was sealed off and a police helicopter patrolled overhead.
Benedikt Frank, vice president and chief executive of the annual Munich Security Council (MSC), which has an office in the area, said he and his colleagues were trapped inside the building during the police operation.
“Our offices in the center of Munich, right next to the Nazi documentation centre, have been sealed off by police. All our employees are now under confinement,” he told tabloid Bild.
He added: “At 9.10am there was a sudden loud noise. At least 12 gunshots were heard. We do not know anything else at this time. There are currently numerous emergency services in the street.”
The area where the attack took place is considered historically sensitive. The Nazi Documentation Centre, which opened in 2015, is built on the site of the former Nazi party headquarters, the Brown House. The Israeli consulate moved into the former Nazi party quarter around the same time. Both buildings are considered at high risk of attack and are given special protection.
According to Israeli media, the consulate was closed at the time of the attack and there were no staff there because ceremonies commemorating the Munich Olympic massacre were taking place at the same time.
