Munich police shoot gunman dead amid ‘major’ operation in city center

(LONDON) — Munich police shot a “suspicious person” in the Karolinenplatz area of the southern German city on Thursday morning, authorities said, adding they had launched a “major operation.”

“Police officers spotted a person who appeared to be carrying a firearm,” Munich’s police force said in an initial statement on social media. “The emergency services used their service weapons and the person was hit and injured.”

“The weapon used by the suspect is an older long gun,” a later police update clarified. “The suspect was fatally injured in the shootout. There are still no indications of further suspects or other injured persons.”

The 18-year-old suspect was an Austrian citizen living in Austria, Munich police said. He was carrying an “older carbine with attached bayonet” when shot, officials said. The suspect parked a car near the crime scene, police said.

The area was cordoned off, with a helicopter in the air above the scene, the force said.

The shooting occurred next to the city’s Nazi Documentation Center, police said.

“Many emergency services are on their way to the site of operations,” the force noted. “We ask that you avoid this area as much as possible.”

The Nazi Documentation Center is one of the city’s most popular museums, located midway between the famous Karolinenplatz and Königsplatz squares just northwest of the medieval old town. It is less than 500 feet from the Israeli Consulate.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry confirmed that there had been a “shooting incident” close to the consulate, noting that the facility was closed on Thursday coinciding with the anniversary of the deadly terror attack at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich.

“No one from the consulate staff was injured in the incident,” the ministry’s spokesperson said. “The shooter was neutralized by the German security forces and the incident is under their care.”

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