German police kill gunman near Israeli consulate in Munich

Brussels – This morning (Sept. 5), the Guardian reported shootings in the vicinity of the Israeli consulate in Munich and a documentation centre on Nazi history. German police have already neutralised the perpetrator.

Munich police spokesman Andreas Franken says that at 9 a.m., an armed man with a long gun had been seen in the Karolinenplatz area. A few minutes later, several gunshots were heard in the area, which was subsequently cordoned off by police. Through a tweet, Munich police announced that, after an exchange of shots, the suspect was seriously injured and later died.

As reported by Ansa, traffic is restricted, and a helicopter is flying over the area, but no accomplices or other injuries have been reported. “Our office, which is right next to the Nazi Documentation Center in downtown Munich, has been sealed off by the police,” says deputy director and managing director of the Munich Annual Security Conference (MSC), Benedikt Frank.

The Israeli Consul for Southern Germany, Tayla Lador, thanked law enforcement for the timely intervention, also adding that “today’s event demonstrates the danger of the rise of anti-Semitism.”

The incident occurred on the 52nd anniversary of the terrorist attack on the Munich Olympic Games, in which 11 Israeli athletes were killed. Still, police, for now, are not making any statements about hypothetical links between the two events.