The teenager, who has not been named, is thought to have lived in the city for more than two years before opening fire on shoppers at the Einkaufszentrum shopping centre in the south German city yesterday afternoon. The motive behind the attack is yet to be ascertained.
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Police said the assailant killed at least 9 people, and almost 21 people were sent to hospitals after the attack.
The attack in the Bavarian capital sparked a massive security operation as authorities – already on edge after the recent attacks in Wuerzburg and Nice, France – received witness reports of multiple shooters carrying rifles shortly before 6 pm (local time).
According to reports, several people have been killed and an unknown number injured in a shooting at a shopping centre in the north-western Moosach district in Munich. The attacker’s corpse was found less than a mile from the scene of the initial shooting, dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot.
Police said 10 of the 27 injured in the mass-shooting are now in a critical condition, including a 13-year-old boy.
He was born and raised in Munich and has no links to refugees, Bavaria Police Chief said. Defining whether the shooting was a case of somebody running amok, or an act of terror, would require more information on a possible motive, he said.
Police had launched a major manhunt in Munich city soon after the incident, as witness statements claimed up to three assailants with long guns were involved in the attack.
“Solidarity with Germany in the challenge they are facing at the moment”, wrote French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault.
The suspected was reportedly filmed shouting slogans as he carried out the attack and police have appealed for footage.
Asked if the shooter had deliberately targeted young people, Munich police chief Andrae said that theory could be neither confirmed nor ruled out. Following the shooting spree, Munich’s main train station was evacuated and metro and bus transport in the city was suspended on police orders.
The shooter, who is believed to have acted alone, engaged in a freaky conversation with an unidentified man, minutes before he opened fire at people near a McDonald’s restaurant in the mall.
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On Monday, a 17-year-old Afghan wounded four people in an axe and knife attack on a regional train near the Bavarian city of Wurzburg, and another woman outside as he fled.
