Austrian police confirm they looked into Munich shooter last year, dropped probe

Austria’s Interior Ministry confirms a report that the gunman who opened fire near the Israeli consulate in Munich was already known to Austrian authorities as a suspected Islamist and had been reported to police last year for alleged membership in an extremist group.

“We assume that he is a lone perpetrator who is radicalised,” says Franz Ruf, Austria’s general director for public security.

Police in the Austrian city of Salzburg, where the shooter reportedly lived, say he came to their attention following a “dangerous threat” against fellow students coupled with bodily harm, and had been accused of involvement in a terrorist organization.

There was a suspicion that he had become religiously radicalized, was active online in that context and was interested in explosives and weapons, a police statement says, noting that prosecutors closed an investigation in April 2023.

Authorities still issued a ban on him owning weapons until at least the beginning of 2028. Police said he had not come to their attention since.

Prosecutors and police in Germany say they currently believe the man’s plan was for “a terrorist attack, also with respect to the consulate of the state of Israel.” They say they are still investigating the man’s motive.

A Munich police spokesperson says the teenager was an Austrian citizen thought to be resident in Austria. He had recently travelled to Germany and lived in Austria’s Salzburg area, Austria’s Standard newspaper and Germany’s Spiegel news outlet report.