German police have shot dead a man in an exchange of fire near the Israeli consulate and Nazi history documentation centre in the southern city of Munich. A police spokesman has confirmed that the man is an 18-year-old Austrian national, the Austrian newspaper reported. Standard and the German The Spiegelwho lived in the Salzburg area near the border with Bavaria, had travelled to Germany by car. The media claim that the authorities knew he was an Islamist.
Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann has confirmed that the man, who was initially seriously injured, died at the scene. Police said on social media that There is no evidence that he was accompanied and that, therefore, there is no danger to the population.
The man fired a long weapon, a repeating rifle, police spokesman Andreas Franken said. It was an old weapon, he added. According to a video posted on social media, which has not been verified, it had a bayonet attached to the top.
The incident comes on the anniversary of the 1972 Munich Olympics bombing, in which a commando of the Palestinian terrorist group Black September killed 11 Israeli athletes. Herrmann said an investigation was underway to determine whether the incident was in any way connected to the commemoration.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said the consulate was closed on Thursday to commemorate the Olympics massacre and that no one at the consulate was injured.
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser described the incident as “serious” but did not want to “speculate on the circumstances and background” of what happened, she said during a press conference to discuss the fight against organised crime. “The protection of Israeli facilities is the highest priority,” she added.
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