Police kill armed man near Israeli consulate in Munich

(CNN) — German police shot dead an armed man after an exchange of fire near the Israeli consulate in central Munich on Thursday, officers said.

The suspect – an 18-year-old Austrian citizen – was armed with an older long gun when he was shot on Karolinenplatz, a square near the Israeli consulate and a Nazi documentation center, according to police in Munich.

The suspect was fatally injured after shots were exchanged, Munich police said in a post on X. Five officers were involved in the shootout, before a larger force was called to “further deal with the situation,” according to Andreas Franken, a police spokesperson.

There is no indication other suspects may be involved, police added. Authorities assume the attack was planned, Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann told reporters on Tuesday.

Police have not revealed a possible motive, and an investigation is under way. A helicopter was deployed to provide a more detailed assessment of the incident, according to Reuters.

One unnamed eyewitness told German media that he heard several bullets fired, before police shot the suspect to the ground.

“I heard several shots and, as a member of a shooting club, I knew immediately that they were firing,” the 65-year-old man told Bild newspaper. “It took several minutes for the first police officers to come up behind him. They then shot him at least 30 to 40 times. After that, I just heard them shouting: ‘He’s lying on the ground, he’s not moving.’”

The incident took place on the anniversary of the 1972 Munich Olympics terror attack – when a Palestinian militant group entered the quarters of Israel’s national team. Eleven Israeli athletes were killed in the ensuing standoff.

It is not clear if Thursday’s incident is at connected to the 1972 event, but the Israeli consulate nearby was closed for a commemoration.

Bavarian Minister President Markus Soeder cautioned there is a “terrible suspicion” that the shooting was linked to the anniversary, but said more clarification was needed to determine the motive.

“The protection of Jewish institutions is of central importance to us,” he said in a press conference on Tuesday. “The motives and backgrounds of the perpetrators will certainly have to be determined in the coming hours, but one thing is clear, there is a serious suspicion, because today is the anniversary of the attack in Munich in 1972, there may be a connection.”

On Facebook, Talya Lador-Fresher, the Israeli consul general in Munich said, “We are very grateful to the police in Munich for their actions and cooperation. This event shows how dangerous the rise of Antisemitism is. It is important that the general public speaks against this. Our Consulate General was closed today to commemorate 52 years since the terrorist attack at the Olympics.”

The incident came on the heels of a divisive round of regional elections in Germany – after the Alternative for Germany (AfD) became the first far-right party to win a state election in the country since the Nazi era, on Sunday.

This story has been updated.

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