German police officers have shot dead an armed teenager close to the Israeli consulate in the city of Munich.
Munich police stated that the suspect, an 18-year-old Austrian national, had been armed with an old rifle.
Police spokesman Andreas Franken told reporters that at about 9 a.m., officers were alerted to a man carrying a “long gun” in the Karolinenplatz area, near downtown Munich, which is also home to the Munich Documentation Center, a museum about the Nazi regime.
Bavaria’s interior minister, Joachim Herrmann, said the man opened fire on police and was killed when they returned fire. No one else was hurt.
Franken said there was no information available on the suspect’s identity or his motive.
He said the man was carrying an old make of firearm with a repeating mechanism.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry stated that the consulate was closed at the time of the incident.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog has spoken to his German counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
Herzog posted on the social media platform X, “Together we expressed our shared condemnation and horror [at the shooting].”
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser described the shooting as “a serious incident” and said that “the protection of Jewish and Israeli facilities has the highest priority.”
Sept. 5 marked the 52nd anniversary of the attack by Palestinian terrorists on Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics, which ended with the death of 11 members of the team.
A police officer and five of the terrorists were killed during a botched rescue attempt.
It is unclear if the Sept. 5 incident was related to the anniversary.
The Munich Documentation Center is located on the site of the Nazi Party’s former headquarters, the so-called Brown House.
Its website states, “As the place where the NSDAP [Nazi Party] was founded, Munich is more closely associated with the rise of national socialism than any other city.”
After the shooting, police posted a message on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, asking people to avoid the area.
“There is still no evidence of other suspects or other injured people,” police stated.
“In addition to numerous uniformed officers, colleagues from the criminal investigation department are also on site and are working together at the crime scene and the surrounding area.”
Munich police stated that evidence was being secured, witnesses were being questioned, and other criminal investigation measures were being carried out.
They stated that they were being assisted by Bavarian riot police and forces from the Bavarian state criminal police office.
Police stated that they had increased their presence in Germany’s third-biggest city, which is also the capital of Bavaria.
There have been no other reports of any incidents elsewhere in Munich or any other German city.
Last month, an ISIS-linked mass stabbing at a “Festival of Diversity” in Solingen, Germany, left three people dead and eight wounded.
“At exactly 9:10 a.m. there was a loud bang. At least a dozen shots were heard.”
Starting on Sept. 21, Munich will host the famous Oktoberfest beer festival, which attracts thousands of foreign tourists.
