Oktoberfest didn't open on Wednesday morning following a residential fire, and a related fatality in northern Munich that appeared to have been related to a bomb threat against the festival itself.
At 10:30am Munich Police wrote on X: "Due to an unspecified bomb threat related to the operation in northern Munich, the festival grounds at Theresienwiese will remain closed until 5:00pm for the time being."
Here's what we know so far:
What happened?
In the early morning, several explosions in a residential district in the Lerchenau district in northern Munich (see map below) triggered a large-scale police and fire-brigade operation.
At 4:41am, an emergency call had been received. Nearby residents reported hearing explosions or gunshots and seeing flames.
Emergency responders found a burned-out van as well as two seriously injured people. One, who has since become the primary suspect, died a short time later from their wounds.
A nearby house was also on fire, which had been rigged with explosives. It is believed to have been set on fire deliberately. Special forces were called in to defuse booby traps set inside the house.
Heavily armed police forces were deployed in the district on the outskirts of Munich, and the police evacuated a radius of 200 meters around the burning building.
A nearby middle school was also closed.
On social media site X, the police wrote that the deceased person could be connected to events at the burning house.
Another person was missing, according to initial reports, but police said they did not pose a threat.
In addition, BR24 reported that several cars nearby had been set on fire and the street had been evacuated.
Where did this happen?
The fires and the related police operation occurred in Munich's Lerchenau district on the northern side of the city.
The deceased man, seriously injured at the time, was initially found about five minute's walk from the burning residential building, near Lake Lerchenau.
Why was Oktoberfest closed?
The deceased suspect was found with a letter in which he also threatened the Oktoberfest, so the festival was closed for hours and searched for explosives as a precaution.
The Oktoberfest said on its website: "Due to a bomb threat in connection with the explosion in northern Munich, Theresienwiese will remain closed until 5:00pm for the time being."
Police said they were investigating any possible link between the events in northern Munich and the Oktoberfest, which takes place near the centre of Munich on the Theresienwiese fair grounds.
Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) subsequently confirmed the information in a post on Instagram: "The police will do everything they can to have completely searched the Oktoberfest by 5:00pm...If that's not the case, then the Oktoberfest won't open at all today."
Police searched the Theresienwiese with sniffer dogs, and visitors were not allowed to enter. Employees were also made to evacuate the grounds.
Later in the afternoon, the Oktoberfest website was updated to announce that the festival would open again at 5:30pm.
"Police operations at Theresienwiese have been completed," a notice on the website said, adding that the threat was absent.
Who was the dead suspect?
According to police, the suspect is a German who lived in Starnberg - a village on the western outskirts of Munich. They said later on Wednesday that he had been carrying explosives in a backpack.
BR24 reported on Wednesday afternoon that the burned out van was registered to a 57 year old man from the lakeside village.
AFP has since reported that the man had wounded his mother and daughter, booby-trapped and set ablaze their home, and then killed himself at a nearby lake in the city's leafy northern Lerchenau district.
The authorities therefore currently rule out a political motive.
Some media reports had highlighted a post on Indymedia.org which gave the impression that there could be a connection to the leftist, anti-fascist movement Antifa. But this has since been debunked.
"There is no connection to Antifa on the part of the suspect," the investigators reported. They added, "There are no indications that there is a danger in other places in Munich."
The man's 81-year-old mother and his 21-year-old daughter, a German-Brazilian citizen, were both injured. Both were receiving medical treatment in the hospital.
Bild daily previously reported that a man was suspected of having caused the explosion and fire in his parents' house before killing himself, and that shots had been fired in the incident, but police did not confirm this.
Later, Bavaria's Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU), revealed the motive that investigators had discovered. The suspect had doubted the paternity of his daughter.
SZ reported that he had demanded an expert opinion on the question, and then had doubted the results when he was confirmed to be the father.
He had also submitted petitions to the Bavarian state parliament and the Ministry of Justice, without success.
The suspect's 90-year-old father, who is officially considered missing, is presumed dead.
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