Munich shooting at Israeli Consulate, police suspect terror

Police and prosecutors said on Thursday afternoon that they were working on the assumption of an attempted terrorist attack near the Israeli Consulate in Munch earlier that morning. 

"Currently at least we are working on the assumption of an attempted terrorist attack, also in connection with the Consulate General of Israel, although the focal point of the running investigations is the motivation of the suspect," Munich's police and public prosecutors' office said in a joint statment. 

Bavaria's specialist counterterrorist unit had taken the lead in the investigations, they said.

Police in Munich initially reported a large operation in the city center near the Israeli Consulate, saying officers had shot and hit a suspicious individual, at around 9 a.m. on Thursday.

"Police officers fired shots at a suspicious person in the area of Karolinenplatz, the person was struck in this process," police said. "A wide area around the operation is sealed off." 

Police said a few hours after the incident that the man was an 18-year-old with Austrian citizenship but at that point did not comment on possible motives, saying investigations were ongoing. 

"Third situation update: The suspect is an 18-year-old Austrian national and resident. The weapon he was carrying was an old carbine rifle with attached bayonet," police said, adding that he had driven to the area and parked a car nearby. 

German and Austrian outlets Der Spiegel and Der Standard had also reported that he was already known to police because of Islamist connections.

DW correspondent Lewis Sanders, reporting from Munich, expanded, saying, "Austrian authorities announced just an hour ago that the shooter was known to them and he had been under investigation last year for suspected radicalization and ties to a terrorist group."

Sanders said, "We have seen local media reports with sources in the security services saying that a raid had taken place at the shooter's residence last year and material related to the Syrian-based militant group al-Nusra, which historically has ties to al-Qaeda, had been found."

 

Suspect fired on police, shot as they returned fire

"Police officers saw a person, who was apparently carrying a firearm," police said roughly an hour after their initial post. "The officers employed their service weapons, the person was hit and wounded." 

 

Bavaria's Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann later said that the suspect had died of his wounds and that the suspect had fired shots at police first. 

"He shot directly at the police officers, they returned fire," Herrmann said. 

A police spokesman said that five officers had been involved in the exchange of fire, and that the man had been using a long-barreled weapon.

Videos circulating online, that DW was able to verify, showed a younger male carrying what appeared to be quite an old rifle fitted with a bayonet in the area before the exchange of fire with police.

The Consulate General of Israel in Munich is located on the Karolinenplatz roundabout, and a Nazi-era museum, the NS-Dokumentationszentrum, is next door.  

Interior Minister Faeser thanks police in first response

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser was asked about the case during a press conference on a different issue in Berlin on Thursday. She said she did not want to speculate too hastily but described it as a "serious incident." 

She thanked Munich police for the response and told reporters that "the protection of Jewish and Israeli facilities, as you know, has the highest priority." 

Israel's Foreign Ministry said the Munich Consulate was closed at the time, because of a memorial service on the anniversary of the attack on Israel's Olympic athletes during the 1972 Games in Munich. No employees were hurt amid the incident, it said.

Germany, like many countries in Europe, has been on alert about potential security risks around Israeli facilities amid the conflict in Gaza and the wider tensions in the Middle East since the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel. 

Bavarian state premier Söder: 'Munich briefly held its breath'

"Munich briefly held its breath today," Bavarian state premier Markus Söder said in Munich on Thursday. "Fortunately it turned out well in the end." 

Söder stressed that the suspect's background and motivations still needed to be investigated, but he said there was the "terrible suspicion" of a connection between the incident and the memorial to the 1972 attack in the city that day.

"The security architecture worked," Söder said. "That's thanks to the good cooperation of the police and the public." 

"For us it's clear, we will defend any attack with great determination. It is worth investing in our police and their equipment," he said. "There is a terrible suspicion on the motive of the attacker on the anniversary of the Olympic attack of 1972. We renew our promise of protection: the protection of Jewish life and of our state and its people have the highest priority for us."

Speaking of the timing of the attack, DW's Lewis Sanders reported, "For many within the Jewish community, there is no coincidence. The fact that the attack happened close to… within the direct vicinity of… the Israeli consulate here, on this day…For them, there is no no doubt about it that there is a connection."

Israeli President Herzog condemns attack 

Israeli President Isaac Herzog wrote online that he had discussed the incident with his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier. 

"In my conversation now with the president of Germany, my friend Frank-Walter Steinmeier, we expressed joint condemnation of the terrorist attack that took place this morning near the Israeli consulate in Munich," he said. 

"On the day set in Germany to mark the memory of the 11 Israeli athletes who were murdered at the Munich Olympics 52 years ago by wrongful terrorists, a terrorist filled with hatred sought to murder innocents again in Munich," Herzog said. He thanked security services for their rapid response and said "together we must stand against terrorism and defeat it." 

Witness tells DW he heard 'two loud bangs,' then what sounded like a 'firefight'

DW spoke to a man who works near the site, Christian Werner, who said that from his workplace he heard "two loud bangs, then a salvo, a firefight ... which sounded like more than one person was shooting." 

He said the sound came from across the street in the direction of the consulate. 

"Police arrived on the scene quickly, more and more kept arriving," he said. "They carried out searches. I went out to the trash cans outside, and was checked by a police officer who asked me to go back inside. They were heavily armed. Civilians were led away from the scene under police protection."

Werner also said, roughly two hours after the first announcements of an incident, "there are now significantly fewer police at the scene." 

Police said just after midday, noting reports of some people hiding or barricading themselves in nearby buildings, "we can give the all-clear, there is no further danger to the public." 

However, they also said officers were still on site, in particular, gathering evidence and interviewing potential witnesses. "Therefore the restrictions on traffic remain in place," they said. 

js,msh/nm (AFP, dpa, Reuters, Polizei München)