Bomb threat, booby traps and Oktoberfest shut: All we know about ‘family dispute’ that left two dead in Munich
Oktoberfest celebrations in a German city were shut on Wednesday after a ‘family dispute’ left two people dead and two others injured.
Police closed the popular event in Munich after a bomb threat and an incident at a house that investigators said had been deliberately set on fire. A person believed to be the suspect’s father was found dead inside the building, according to local media reports.
Authorities said they also found the suspect’s 81-year-old mother injured in the garden, and a woman believed to be his daughter on the first floor. Special forces were brought in to defuse booby traps found in the property and neighbours within a 200-metre radius were evacuated.
A 57-year-old suspect from Starnberg was later found dead near Munich’s Lake Lerchenau and is believed to have taken his own life. He was carrying a backpack which is believed to have contained an explosive device that had to be defused, police said.
Investigations into the case are ongoing.
A person believed to be the suspect’s father was lying dead inside the building. First responders have not yet been able to reach the body due to the intense heat of the fire, DW reports. German outlet Bild reported that the suspect had allegedly shot his father and injured his mother and daughter.
Police confirmed that two people were injured during the incident. These were identified as the suspect’s 81-year-old mother, a German citizen, and his 21-year-old daughter, a German-Brazilian citizen. Both lived in Munich, investigators said, and were being treated in hospital for injuries.
Officers rushed to the scene roughly 10 minutes after the first emergency calls reporting the sound of gunfire, explosions and a man fleeing the scene of the residential home. They found the suspect’s mother hurt and hiding in the garden.
A woman believed to be the suspect’s daughter was found on the first floor of a building that was “fully ablaze” when police arrived.
Investigators believe the fire was set deliberately following a family dispute, and earlier on Wednesday found hand grenades and tripwires at the house, according to Welt.
Police identified the suspect only as a 57-year-old German citizen residing in the town of Starnberg. He has yet to be named by authorities but German outlet WELT reports that he worked as a caretaker, craftsman and garden designer.
When called to the house fire, first responders found explosives near a Mercedes van that belonged to the suspect. The explosives detonated and set the vehicle alight.
Officers saw the suspect fleeing the scene from the garden and gave chase on the ground while a police helicopter pursued overhead.
“In the end, the person was cornered near the Lerchenauer See [lake] and then took his own life,” Thomas Hampel of the Munich police said.
