Munich foils terrorist attack: Further details announced

Munich – After the thwarted suspected terrorist attack in Munich Investigators have released further details about the case. The 18-year-old bought his weapon just one day before the crime.

As police operations chief Christian Huber announced at a press conference, the perpetrator (18) fired shots at the Nazi Documentation Center and the Israeli consulate.

Before the shootout with the police, he had also gained access to two buildings. There was then a confrontation with the police in the park, during which he shot at the officers and was ultimately fatally shot himself.

A police officer and a woman suffered acoustic trauma as a result of the shots.

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According to senior public prosecutor Gabriele Tilmann, the investigation is now focusing on possible accomplices or accomplices of the 18-year-old and the question of whether he acted within a network.

There is no information yet about the motive: the suspect did not leave any messages or anything similar. In connection with a computer game, colleagues in Austria had in the past made connections to the Islamist group “Haiat Tahrir al-Sham” (HTS for short).

Whether this will be confirmed remains to be determined, said Police President Guido Limmer (BLKA).

Since shots were fired at both the Nazi Documentation Center and the Israeli consulate on the anniversary of the 1972 Olympic attack, the 18-year-old presumably acted in an anti-Semitic and racist manner.

Witnesses had already submitted the first videos from the day of the crime on the police upload portal.

Austria’s Director General for Public Security, Franz Ruf, reported that the 18-year-old had bought the weapon, a K31, just one day before his alleged assassination attempt. The rifle is an older model carbine. The seller was a weapons collector with whom the 18-year-old had been in contact via an online platform.

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According to Ruf, the carbine changed hands for 350 euros, plus a bayonet for 50 euros and about 50 rounds of ammunition.

Carbines are considered Category C weapons in Austria. They are therefore freely available for sale and do not have to be registered with the authorities until six weeks after purchase. Category C includes long guns that have to be reloaded manually after each shot.

When the older apartment was searched, no further weapons or obvious Islamist propaganda material were found. The data storage devices seized must now be evaluated.

The young man reportedly took a new job on Monday. When he did not show up at his workplace on Thursday morning, his parents contacted the police that morning and reported their son missing.

The parents did not yet know anything about the incident in Munich, which had already taken place. The father had perceived his son as having psychological problems in the past, the Austrian Interior Ministry explained. He is said to have therefore tried to get in touch with a psychologist.

According to information from Vienna, the 18-year-old is not a “classic Islamist”. Until last spring, he had attended a high school specializing in electrical engineering and was considered a good and intelligent student.