A suspected terror attack was attempted near the Israeli Consulate in Munich on Thursday, which resulted in the attacker being fatally wounded by police amid a huge security response.

A shootout erupted shortly after 9am after a young man was witnessed carrying a “long-barreled gun” with a bayonet attached to it in the Karolinenplatz area, near downtown Munich. Five officers were at the scene at the time and responded with gunfire. The 18-year-old shooter later identified as being a Muslim from Austria died at the scene. 

German police counterterror team responds in Munich, via X.

German Police said they immediately deployed 500 officers to the area on fears there could be more attackers. Authorities believe that the Israeli consulate was the target given it happened on the anniversary of the Palestinian terror attack on the 1972 Munich Olympics which killed eleven Israeli athletes. But investigators say they are still looking at the motive.

German authorities in a follow-up press briefing confirmed they are treating a shooting as a “possible attack on an Israeli institution,” according to the words State Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann. The weapon used was also revealed to be a vintage rifle.

Dr. Josef Schuster, the head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said that while the background and motive for the attack is still not fully known, “What we do know takes our breath away.” He added: There could have been a catastrophe in Munich today. I thank the police for their quick intervention.”

German police shot dead an armed assailant near the Israeli consulate in Munich, saying the incident was a “possible attack on an Israeli institution.”

Police confirmed the attacker was an 18-year-old Austrian national known to security authorities as an Islamist. pic.twitter.com/ljJXcC9f8m

— DW News (@dwnews) September 5, 2024

Spiegel news outlet reported that the gunman was already known to security authorities as an Islamist who lived in Austria’s Salzburg area near the border with Bavaria. Below is Times of Israel citing German and European media:

The suspect in a shooting near the Israeli consulate in Munich was a teenage Austrian national who was known to security authorities as an Islamist, the Standard newspaper and Spiegel news outlet report.

The suspect lived in Austria’s Salzburg area near the border with Bavaria and had recently traveled to Germany, the reports say.

“We have to assume that an attack on the Israeli Consulate possibly was planned early today,” Bavaria’s top security official, state Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann, told reporters at the scene. “It’s obvious that, if someone parks here within sight of the Israeli Consulate… then starts shooting, it most probably isn’t a coincidence.”

It turns out the consulate was closed at the time of the shooting, with diplomatic staff at the time planning to attend a memorial memorial ceremony for the 1972 attack. No Israeli personnel were hurt in Thursday’s incident.

#BREAKING Israel President says the shooting at the consulate in Munich was a terror attack after a phone call with his German counterpart pic.twitter.com/MFiwIEyxVs

— Guy Elster (@guyelster) September 5, 2024

The fact that the young Islamist was already known to German authorities raises a lot of questions about not only his ease of entry into the country from Austria, but how he wasn’t apprehended and questioned earlier. There’s also the question of how he was able to walk around central Munich for so long in broad daylight (long enough to be filmed by nearby bystanders) brandishing a large vintage gun with a bayonet.