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Police have shot dead a an 18-year-old man in Munich, who officials said had opened fire at police in an area near the Israeli consulate and a museum on the city’s Nazi-era history.
A police spokesperson said officers had been alerted to a person carrying a “long gun” at around 9am, after which there was an exchange of fire in which the suspect was fatally wounded. Bavaria's top security official, state Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann, said the suspect had opened fire at police and they returned fire. "Due to the intervention of the police, the perpetrator was stopped," Mr Herrmann told reporters.
Police have identified the man shot dead as an Austrian national believed to be resident in Austria.
Police said the man was carrying an older weapon with a repeating mechanism. Police said they had increased their presence in the city, which is Germany’s third largest, but they had no indication of incidents at any other locations or of any other suspects – with no further casualties reported.
The incident took place in the central Karolinenplatz area, where police announced at 9:15am that there was a “major operation” under way. The outlet Süddeutsche Zeitung reported that a suspect had fired two gunshots at the museum, which sits of the site of the former Nazi Party headquarters.
The suspect's motive is under investigation, poice said. Thursday marks the 52nd anniversary of an attack by Palestinian militants on the Israeli delegation at the 1972 Olympics, in which 11 Israeli team members, a police officer and five of the assailants were killed.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry said the consulate in Munich was closed to mark the anniversary of the 1972 attack, so no staff were hurt.
Benedikt Frank, chief executive of the annual Munich Security Conference, said his office had been put into lockdown, telling the newspaper Bild: “At 9.10am there was suddenly a loud bang. We heard at least a dozen shots.”
Germany’s interior minister Nancy Faeser described Thursday’s shooting as “a serious incident” and said the protection of Israeli institutions is of the highest priority. Ms Faeser she was in contact with emergency services but did not want to speculate on further details.
Israel’s consul general to southern Germany, Talya Lador, expressed her gratitude to the Munich police “for their actions and cooperation”, adding: “This event shows how dangerous the rise of antisemitism is. It is important that the general public raises its voice against it.”
The nearby Munich Documentation Center for the History of National Socialism, which opened in 2015 and explores the city's past as the birthplace of the Nazi movement, also said all of its employees were unharmed.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said he spoke with German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier. He wrote on the social media platform X that "together we expressed our shared condemnation and horror" at the shooting.
Associated Press contributed to this report
