TERRORISMMunich Shooting at Israeli Consulate, Police Suspect Terror
Investigators in Munich believe the incident was likely an attempted terrorist attack. Police shot and killed a man who had fired on them with a rifle near the Israeli Consulate and a Nazi-era museum in the city.
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 the Public Prosecutors Office said in a joint statement.
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 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.”
Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann later said 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.
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