Munich: Police shoot armed 18-year-old – investigators suspect terrorist attack

Police officers killed an armed man near the Nazi Documentation Center and the Israeli Consulate General in downtown Munich. The police and Munich Public Prosecutor’s Office suspect that this was an attempted terrorist attack.

“The attacker may be planning an attack on the consulate,” said Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann on Thursday. According to Herrmann, the perpetrator opened fire in the morning. “He deliberately shot at the police officers, who returned fire.” According to the police, no other people were injured. Five officers were involved in the exchange of fire. The investigation is being carried out by a special department of the Munich Public Prosecutor’s Office responsible for combating terrorism.

According to the police, the attacker is an 18-year-old Austrian. The Süddeutsche Zeitung, NDR and WDR were the first to report reported about it. According to information from WELT, he was not registered in Germany. He is said to have driven to Munich in a Renault.

The man had not previously made an appearance in Germany, neither with criminal acts nor as a supporter of an extremist scene. The Austrians had him “on their radar,” it was said. According to information from this editorial team, the Austrian authorities are said to have knowledge that the 18-year-old harbored violent and rampage fantasies. It is assumed that he had an Islamist background. The Austrian Interior Ministry confirmed media reports that the shooter was known to be a suspected Islamist.

According to information from the Austrian news agency APA, the shooter has Bosnian roots. As the agency further reports, data and a computer game were found on the young man’s cell phone that testified to a proximity to Islamist terrorist ideology.

According to the old findings, the authorities have no information about a permanent involvement in Islamist or jihadist structures. It is also apparently unclear whether the man could have been guided by a foreign terrorist organization. There is reportedly no information on this so far.

Eyewitnesses report 25 shots – video circulates

Police discovered the man at around 9 a.m. in the area near the consulate and the Nazi Documentation Center. The perpetrator was apparently carrying an older model of repeating weapon. Then there was an exchange of gunfire. WELT reporter Sebastian Kramer reports that eyewitnesses heard at least 25 shots.

A video is circulating on social media showing a man walking around the grounds of the Israeli Consulate General in Munich with a long gun. The video, which is around 100 seconds long, was shot from a distance. The details are not clear. However, it is clear that the man is slim, wearing red trousers and a black top, and has dark blonde or light brown hair. A shot can be seen and heard, and the man is thrown back by the recoil. It is not clear what is important. From the looks of things, he is a rather inexperienced shooter.

It is unclear whether the video is authentic and whether it shows the man who was shot by the police. It was posted online on Thursday at 10:28 a.m. on platform X by a user whose account is new and who has not posted any other content. This suggests that the account was only set up to distribute this one video.

“SZ” editor Ronen Steinke published a video on X in which sirens and numerous shots can be heard.

A video posted on the TikTok platform shows armed officers in protective suits outside the Israeli Consulate General. In another video, the person filming the clip – disclosing police officers – can be heard being told to “get out of the window.”

“The area of ​​operations is cordoned off on a large scale,” the police said. Due to the current operational situation, Munich police said they had increased their presence in the city center. The area affected was Briennerstrasse and Karolinenplatz. Traffic barriers were set up there.

Faeser: “Serious incident”

The attack coincided with the anniversary of the 1972 Munich Olympic bombing. On September 5, 1972, Palestinian terrorists shot two men and took nine hostages in the Olympic Village. 18 hours later, a rescue attempt ended with the deaths of the nine Israeli hostages, a police officer, and five of the attackers. The terrorists wanted to force the release of more than 200 prisoners in Israel and the RAF terrorists Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof.

Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) said there was a “suspicion” that the crime and the anniversary were connected. “Munich held its breath for a moment today,” he said. “Fortunately, it turned out well in the end.” The perpetrator’s background has yet to be determined.

Söder thanked the emergency services for their “courageous” intervention. “The protection of Jewish institutions is of central importance to us,” he stressed. Although the day had “ended lightly,” no one should be mistaken, the act was “a warning signal to all of us.”

Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said in Berlin: “It is a serious incident.” But she did not want to speculate, we should wait and see. She did not provide any further details.

Consulate was not occupied – Israel thanks police

Employees of the state consulate general were not injured on Thursday. The consulate was not occupied at the time of the incident in the morning, and a memorial to the Olympic attack was planned. According to WELT information, the event was cancelled.

The Israeli Consul General thanked the police for their actions. “This event shows how dangerous the rise of anti-Semitism is,” wrote the Consul General of the State of Israel for Southern Germany, Talya Lador-Fresher, on Platform X. “It is important that the general public raises its voice against it.”

Israel’s President Isaac Herzog spoke on the phone with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier at noon. Both expressed their “joint condemnation and our horror” at the act, Herzog wrote on X. He spoke of a “terrorist attack”.

And he continued: “On the day our brothers and sisters in Munich were supposed to stand up to commemorate our brave athletes who were murdered by terrorists 52 years ago, a hate-filled terrorist came and wanted to murder innocent people once again.”