Munich OEZ attack 10th anniversary: Families say truth still elusive, trust in authorities eroded

"The memories never end," says Nayde Dayıcık. But even ten years after the murder of her son Hüseyin, the parents still have questions. Photo: Quirin Leppert

On Wednesday, the far-right terrorist attack at the Munich Olympic Shopping Center marks its tenth anniversary. Relatives are still waiting for answers.

21.7.2026 | 7:47 PM

By Patrick Guyton, Munich

A Grave and a Memory

On the grave stands the sculpture of a white angel with wings. At the base, a photo of a young man in a baseball cap and black glasses, with the inscription above: "Guili." The angel holds an open book in its right hand, with an engraved verse on one side:

"We are not all rich, but we all bleed the same."

It is the last verse Guiliano Kollmann, nickname Guili, wrote and posted two hours before his death. Next to it, his name and life dates: born February 8, 1997, died July 22, 2016. He was 19 years old.

Gisela Kollmann usually visits her grandson's grave several times a week. "Some cemetery visitors," she says, "come and ask: He was so young, what happened?" Kollmann then tells them what happened: Guiliano was murdered on July 22, 2016, in the attack at the Munich Olympic Shopping Center, known locally as the OEZ. Like eight others, almost all young people with migrant backgrounds or migrant appearance.

Guiliano Kollmann's grave. Photo: Quirin Leppert

About her grandson, the 75-year-old says: "He was a passionate footballer and a rapper. A family person, popular everywhere." He was a child of divorce; the grandmother and her husband had taken Guiliano in when he was three years old. He called her "Mami." The grandson was about to start an apprenticeship as an offset printer.

The Attack and Its Aftermath

Guiliano Kollmann was murdered by 18-year-old German-Iranian David S., who shot himself two and a half hours after the attack, following a flight and police pursuit. His motive: racism and hatred of migrants. However, it was only three and a half years later that the act was classified as a far-right terrorist attack.

This Wednesday marks the tenth anniversary of the OEZ attack. The incident occupied the media for days and sparked long discussions about how investigative authorities handle far-right terrorist violence: The perpetrator, who himself had an Iranian migrant background, seemed to fit no stereotype.

The Day of the Attack

Friday evening, July 22, 2016:

• 5:51 PM – Shots were fired at the OEZ, reported as breaking news by the media. The first shots rang out at a neighboring McDonald's. David S. shot at six teenagers sitting in a seating area on the first floor; five of them died.
• Outside on Hanauer Street in front of McDonald's, he shot at passersby, killing two.
• In front of an electronics store, he fatally shot another person, then ran into the OEZ, where he shot a passerby on the ground floor of the shopping center.
• 6:04 PM – A plainclothes police patrol spotted him on the parking deck but lost sight of him again.

The city was literally cordoned off and paralyzed; initially, authorities assumed there were two or three perpetrators. Subway traffic was halted, all buses returned to depots. The public was urged not to go outside and to seek shelter.

David S. eventually managed to flee the OEZ, hiding in a bicycle cellar in the neighborhood. When police discovered him, he shot himself. It was 8:23 PM.

"There was one perpetrator and 2,500 police officers deployed. How could it be that he shot so many people?" — Relative Süleyman Dayıcık

A Misrecognized Attack

But after the attack, interest in the causes and precise circumstances seemed to wane again. The research organization Mediendienst Integration speaks of the "misrecognized attack." For a long time, the prevailing view was: It was a rampage, ultimately apolitical. The perpetrator was mentally ill and wanted revenge for years of bullying at school.