An German man carried out a lethal violent spree involving shooting, bombs, and arson against his family before taking his own life on midweek, prompting safety concerns in the Bavarian capital that resulted in the temporary closure of the internationally renowned beer celebration.
Authorities opted to close the event for a short period after discovering a message the individual had dropped in a local mailbox that contained a vague threat directed at the city's Oktoberfest.
The mayor then gave the all-clear in the midday, and the event resumed in the evening.
Law enforcement stated that the 57-year-old man had shot at his mother and father using a homemade firearm in an assault that started before dawn.
He then, he ignited his family home, having previously rigged the building with devices.
Authorities indicated they suspected he had probably killed his elderly father, whose body was observed but could not be retrieved from the still-burning house in the metropolitan green northern Lerchenau district.
The man also shot his 81-year-old mother, who was later transported for medical care with injuries not considered life-threatening.
His 21-year-old daughter was also injured but was rescued by emergency crews from the upper level, having threatened to jump to flee the flames.
The man, who has not been identified, fled after a police helicopter sighted him in the garden.
Following a brief chase, he halted in a lakeside park and killed himself.
Bomb squads were dispatched because the man had rigged the house with explosives – allegedly grenades attached to trip wires – and was also bearing an explosives-laden backpack.
During his rampage, he had also set three vehicles ablaze outside the residence, including his own vehicle.
This violent act triggered a large-scale law enforcement response just prior to 5:00 am local time and then the removal of local inhabitants and a local school.
Approximately 500 emergency personnel were dispatched during the day's emergency response operations.
A state official commented there was no indication of a ideological or faith-based reason.
"Evidence suggests, incomprehensible as it may be, that this was solely a family matter," he added.
Municipal officials acted on the alarm by declaring the temporary closure of the festival, considered the biggest event of its kind globally.
This annual celebration, taking place from 20 September to 5 October this year, welcomed millions of visitors in 2024.
It was hit by a historical incident in 1980 when a far-right group set off a pipe bomb, claiming the lives of 13 people and injuring over two hundred others.
