Several shots were fired near the Nazi Documentation Centre in downtown Munich on Thursday, September 5th, German media reported.
The police said that “a larger operation is currently underway in the area of Briennerstraße and Karolinenplatz. We are on site with numerous emergency services.”
At around At around 10:30 a.m., the police said: “In the area of Karolinenplatz, police forces fired shots at a suspicious person, the person was hit and wounded.” The person was carrying a firearm.
There are currently no indications of other suspects.
Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann later said the suspect died at the scene after being shot while exchanging fire with police.
Journalist Ronen Steinke published a video on social media platform X, in which gunfire can be heard:
According to tabloid Bild, the suspect drove up to the Nazi Documentation Center with a gun where he shot at police posts in front of the building—the officers then returned fire.
The Nazi Documentation Centre is a museum which focuses on the history and consequences of the Nazi regime. It was erected on the site of the former Brown House, the Nazi Party headquarters.
The location is also close to the Consulate General of Israel. Israel’s Foreign Ministry said the consulate was closed when the shooting occurred and that no consulate staff had been hurt.
It is unclear whether there is a connection between the suspect and the sites where the shooting occurred.
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser called the events a “serious incident,” and said that “the protection of Jewish and Israeli facilities, as you know, has the highest priority.”
The incident on Thursday happened on the anniversary (September 5th) of the Munich massacre of 1972, when members of the Palestinian terrorist organisation Black September infiltrated the Olympic Village in Munich, killed two members of the Israeli Olympic team, and took nine others hostage, who were later killed in a failed rescue attempt.
The number of antisemitic incidents committed in Germany almost doubled in 2023 compared to the year before, according to a recent report. A total of 4,782 antisemitic incidents were recorded last year, an 80% increase on the previous year, with two-thirds of these cases occurring after October 7th, the day of Palestinian Hamas’s terror attack on Israel.
This article will be updated.
