German police fatally shoot gunman near Israeli consulate in Munich

The shooter, an 18-year-old Austrian, left his home in northern Austria at around 6:30 a.m. Thursday and parked in Munich near the crime scene at around 9 a.m. A police patrol saw the man with a “weapon-like object” but then lost sight of him, Christian Huber, head of operations told a news conference Friday.

The perpetrator then fired two shots at the glass facade and the door of the Nazi Documentation Center, before shooting the window of a neighboring university building. On entering the building, the man injured himself and left behind traces of blood.

Following a failed attempt to climb over the fence of the Israeli Consulate, the perpetrator fired two more shots — this time at the consulate itself.

After entering a second building, the man appeared in a green area where he exchanged fire with five officers. The perpetrator had ignored requests to put down his weapon, Huber said, and continued to shoot while lying on the ground before dying.

The 18-year-old fired a total of nine shots but did not hit anyone in the two buildings he entered, police said.

Salzburg police in northern Austria, confirmed that the man “with Bosnian roots” was already known to authorities in February 2023.

“After making a dangerous threat to fellow students and causing bodily harm, the man was also accused of involvement in a terrorist organization,” police said. “There was suspicion that he had become religiously radicalized, was active online and was interested in explosives and weapons.”

In April 2023 Salzburg public prosecutor’s office dropped all allegations, but put the individual under a weapons ban valid until 2028.

During the huge police operation close to Karolinenplatz, officers “responded with the appropriate weapons to the perpetrator, who was carrying a long gun and had fired a series of shots,” Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann told reporters Thursday.

Huber confirmed Friday that the weapon was an old Karabiner Modell 1931 — a Swiss military rifle used until the 1950s with “massive penetration power.”

Thursday’s incident coincided with the anniversary of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre. Eight members of the Palestinian militant organization Black September infiltrated the Olympic Village at the 1972 Summer Games and killed two members of the Israeli Olympic team. Nine others were taken hostage and later killed during a failed rescue attempt. A police officer was also killed.

In a statement on X, Talya Lador, the Israeli consul general in Munich, thanked police for their actions and cooperation.

“This event shows how dangerous the rise of antisemitism is,” Lador wrote. “It is important that the general public raises its voice against it. Our Consulate General was closed today to commemorate 52 years since the terrorist attack at the Olympic Games.”

Israeli President Isaac Herzog spoke with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier shortly after the incident. In a telephone call, both heads of state “expressed our joint condemnation and horror,” Herzog wrote on X.

As a precautionary measure, the annual memorial event at Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base for the 12 victims of the 1972 attack was canceled Thursday morning shortly before it was to begin.

Local media also reported that police significantly increased security at Munich’s Ohel Jakob Synagogue, less than a mile from the incident. Patrol cars were parked at the entrance, and officers with submachine guns surrounded the building, the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported.

Bavarian State Premier Markus Söder said Munich “held its breath for a moment today.” He thanked police for their “prudent, quick behavior,” as well as residents who immediately informed police.

“Their cooperation was the reason that nothing worse happened,” Söder said, before making a “promise of protection for Jewish fellow citizens.”