A 57-year-old German man killed himself after a violent rampage involving a homemade gun, explosives, and arson that targeted his family and prompted the temporary closure of Munich’s Oktoberfest on Wednesday. The man shot his 90-year-old father, whose body remains unrecovered from the still-burning family home, and wounded his 81-year-old mother, who is in hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
The attack began before dawn in the northern Lerchenau district, where the man set his parents’ house on fire after booby-trapping it with explosives, reportedly including grenades attached to trip wires. His 21-year-old daughter was rescued by firefighters from the first floor after threatening to jump to escape the flames. The man also set three vehicles alight outside the property, including his own van.
Police discovered a note the man had dropped in a nearby letterbox containing a vague threat to the Oktoberfest, the world’s largest beer festival, which is currently underway. Authorities closed the event for seven hours as a precaution, reopening in the evening after Munich’s mayor, Dieter Reiter, gave the all-clear. The festival had drawn about 6.7 million visitors in 2024 and runs until 5 October.
The suspect fled but was spotted by a police helicopter in a garden. After a short pursuit, he stopped in a lakeside park and killed himself. Bomb squads were deployed as he was also carrying an explosives-laden backpack. Around 500 police, firefighters, and first responders were involved in the daylong emergency operation, which also led to the evacuation of nearby residents and a school.
Bavaria’s interior minister, Joachim Herrmann, said there was no political or religious motive, describing the attack as seemingly “solely a family matter.” The Oktoberfest has faced security concerns before, notably a far-right pipe bomb attack in 1980 that killed 13 people and wounded over 200.
