01 October 2025 , 22:55
802
0
A German man went on a deadly rampage involving guns, explosives, and arson against his family and then killed himself on Wednesday, raising security concerns in Munich that led to the temporary closure of the world-famous Oktoberfest for seven hours.
Authorities decided to close the event temporarily after discovering a note that the man had dropped in a nearby mailbox, which included a vague threat to the Bavarian city’s beer festival.
The mayor of Munich, Dieter Reiter, gave the all-clear in the afternoon, and the event reopened in the evening.
Police reported that the 57-year-old man had opened fire on his parents with a homemade weapon in an attack that began before dawn. He then set their house on fire, having previously booby-trapped the building.
Police believed he had likely killed his 90-year-old father, whose body was seen but could not be recovered from the still-burning house in the city’s leafy northern Lerchenau district.
The man also shot his 81-year-old mother, who was taken to the hospital with wounds not considered life-threatening, they said.
His 21-year-old daughter was also injured but was rescued by firefighters from the first floor after threatening to jump to escape the flames, according to police.
The man, who has not been named, fled after a police helicopter spotted him in the garden. After a short pursuit, he stopped in a lakeside park and killed himself, police stated.
Bomb squads were called in because the man had rigged the building with explosives—reportedly grenades attached to trip wires—and was also carrying a backpack loaded with explosives.
During his rampage, he also set three vehicles on fire outside the house, including his own van, police said.
The crime prompted a major police mobilization shortly before 5am local time, followed by the evacuation of nearby residents and a local school. About 500 police, firefighters, and other first responders were involved in the day’s emergency response operations.
Bavaria state’s interior minister, Joachim Herrmann, stated there was no indication of a political or religious motive. “It appears, as incomprehensible as it may be, that this was solely a family matter,” he added.
City authorities responded to the threat by announcing the temporary closure of the Oktoberfest, considered the world’s largest gathering of its kind. The festival, held from 20 September to 5 October this year, welcomed 6.7 million visitors in 2024.
In 1980, it became the site of a pipe bomb attack by a far-right group, which killed 13 people and injured more than 200.
Technology & Business Editor