Munich police kill armed man in shootout near Israeli consulate

BERLIN – On Thursday, a gunman was fatally wounded in a shootout near the Israeli consulate in Munich. Authorities believe he may have been planning an attack on the consulate on the anniversary of the attack on the 1972 Munich Olympic Games.

No one was injured in the shooting shortly after 9 a.m. near the consulate and a museum on the city's Nazi history. At around 9 a.m., officers noticed a person carrying a “long gun” who shot at them. The suspect died at the scene.

When the shots were fired, five officers were on site. The police later deployed several officers to the area.

According to police, the shooter was an 18-year-old citizen from neighboring Austria; however, his motive is still being investigated.

“We have to assume that an attack on the Israeli consulate may have been planned this morning,” Bavaria's Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann told journalists on site.

Thursday marked the 52nd anniversary of the attack by Palestinian militants on the Israeli delegation at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. The attack killed 11 members of the Israeli team, a West German police officer and five of the attackers.

According to police, there are no indications of other suspects in connection with the incident.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said the consulate in Munich was closed at the time of the shooting and none of its employees were injured.

The nearby Munich Documentation Center on the History of National Socialism, which opened in 2015 and researches the city's past as the birthplace of the Nazi movement, also said all its staff were unharmed.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said he had spoken with his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier. He wrote on the social media platform X that “we expressed our joint condemnation and horror” at the shooting.

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Moulson reported from Berlin. Associated Press writer Stefanie Dazio in Berlin contributed to this report.