Police shot and killed an 18-year-old Austrian man who opened fire on police officers at the grounds of a museum devoted to the history of the Nazi party in Munich, the birthplace of the party, on Thursday. The Israeli consulate is nearby and, according to authorities, may have been the gunman’s target. No one else was injured.

The incident came on the anniversary of the 1972 attack on the Munich Olympics by Palestinian militants that left 11 Israeli athletes and coaches, and one police officer, dead. “There may be a connection” between the 1972 attack and yesterday’s shooting, Bavarian state Premier Markus Soeder told reporters. 

Authorities are investigating the shooting as a possible terrorist attack. It comes 11 months after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, which killed more than 1,000, and the ongoing Israeli military campaign in Gaza, which has killed more than 40,000 according to the Health Ministry.

The Munich Documentation Center for the History of National Socialism stages exhibitions and programming studying the Nazi party and regime. It opened in 2015 on the site of the headquarters of what was then called the National Socialist German Workers Party, also known as the Brown House.

The Munich Documentation Center for the History of National Socialism.

“The events of September 5 have shocked us deeply,” said the museum in a statement on its website, accompanied by a photograph showing a bullet hole in a window. “We experience this act of violence as an attack on our work for an open, diverse Munich urban society, for Jewish life and a critical culture of remembrance. Such an event leaves behind uncertainty, fear and visible and invisible wounds. This is not only evident in the traces on the building, but also in conversations with people throughout Munich and beyond.

“Investigations are ongoing to fully clarify the background,” the statement continues. “The choice of locations and the date on the anniversary of the 1972 Olympic attack must be taken seriously. At the same time, however, there must be no generalizations. Anti-Semitism and racism must not be played off against each other. Every form of hatred is a threat to our democratic society.”

The gunman, whom authorities have not identified, shot at police officers with an antique rifle with a bayonet attached. European news agencies have indicated that the man was known to Austrian authorities for his connections to Islamic radicalization. According to Reuters, a spokesperson for Austria’s Interior Ministry in Vienna indicated that the gunman had been reported to authorities for possible membership in an extremist group. Austrian news agency APA indicated that Islamic State propaganda had been found on his phone. 

Authorities indicated that the gunman appeared to have acted alone, and police investigated the area for 90 minutes before calling an “all clear.”

Not two months ago, the Center closed the exhibition “Far-Right Terrorism. Conspiracy and Radicalization – 1945 Until Today.”