Police officers in Munich shot and killed a gunman not far from the Israeli consulate and a museum about the city’s Nazi-era history on Thursday, the anniversary of the terrorist attack on the 1972 Olympic Games in the city, in which 11 Israelis athletes were killed.
The authorities said they were investigating the gunman’s actions as a possible terrorist attack.
The consulate may have been the target, given the location and timing. “It most probably isn’t a coincidence,” said Joachim Herrmann, the top security official in the state of Bavaria, of which Munich is the capital.
According to authorities, the gunman, who was identified only as an 18-year old Austrian, drove up in a car, got out and started shooting at patrolling officers with a rifle fitted with a bayonet.