An armed man was shot dead by German police early Thursday morning near the Israeli consulate in the southern city of Munich.
It was the second fatal shooting by police in the country in as many days after a knife attacker was shot dead in Bonn 24-hours earlier.
The BBC reports the man in the Munich incident was hit during a shootout, according to Bavarian police, and the area was cordoned off around Karolinenplatz. Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann confirmed the suspect had died.
They said there were no indications of any other suspects and they appealed to the public not to post images of the incident on social media.
People were told to avoid the area around Karolinenplatz and neighbouring Briennerstrasse and those in nearby residential or office buildings were urged to stay inside. A police helicopter circled over the area immediately afterwards.
Police officers are on duty in Munich. Police have shot down a suspicious person during a major operation in Munich city center near the Israeli Consulate General. ( Peter Kneffel/picture alliance via Getty Images)
According to a police spokesman cited by Sky News, officers acted after they noticed a person carrying a “long gun” in the Karolinenplatz area in the city centre at around 9am.
German media reported the police had shouted out to pedestrians “run, run, run” as they exchanged fire with the suspect.
Israel’s foreign ministry said the consulate in Munich was closed when the shooting occurred and that no staff had been affected by the incident.
Police said they had increased their presence in the city, Germany’s third-biggest, but they had no indication of incidents at any other locations or of any other suspects.
Germany’s interior minister confirmed there was a “serious incident” in Munich and the protection of Israeli facilities was of the “highest priority”.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog said he spoke with German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier. He wrote on the social media platform X that “together we expressed our shared condemnation and horror” at the shooting.
No indication has been given whether the incident was in any way related to the 52nd anniversary Thursday of the attack by Palestinian terrorists on the Israeli delegation at the 1972 Munich Olympics, which ended with the death of 11 Israeli team members, a West German police officer and five of the assailants.
More to come…
