Police kill gunman near Nazi museum and Israeli consulate in Munich
German police have shot dead a gunman near the Israeli consulate and a Nazi history museum in Munich on the 52nd anniversary of the 1972 Olympics massacre in the city.
Officers noticed a person carrying a gun in the Karolinenplatz area in the city centre at around 9am, Andreas Franken, a police spokesman said. “It was a male person and we know that he acted here with a long-barrelled gun.”
The suspect died at the scene after exchanging fire with police, according to Joachim Herrmann, interior minister of the Bavarian state, said. “Due to the intervention of the police, the perpetrator was stopped and probably died at the scene.”
There were no indications of other suspects or incidents in the city, Munich police said on X.
The incident occurred on the anniversary of the 1972 attack at the Olympic Games in Munich when gunmen from the Palestinian terrorist group Black September murdered 11 Israeli athletes and coaches, along with a West German police officer.
It was unclear whether the incident was in any way related to the anniversary.
The Israeli foreign ministry said the consulate was closed on Thursday for a commemoration of the massacre and no one from the consulate staff was injured in the incident.
German interior minister Nancy Faeser described it as a serious incident but declined to speculate on the circumstances and background to it. “The protection of Israeli facilities has top priority,” she said.
The museum and research institute, which focuses on the history of Germany’s 1933-45 Nazi regime, is located near the Israeli consulate in Munich’s Maxvorstadt neighbourhood.
