Munich police warned people to stay inside and avoid public places Friday as they hunted for the shooter or shooters who opened fire at a shopping mall, killing six people and wounding others in a rampage they described as suspected terrorism.
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Supporters of the Islamic State militant group celebrated on social media a shooting rampage in a shopping mall in the southern German city of Munich on Friday that killed and wounded many people.
At least three attackers were on the loose as the city was under a virtual lock down, with residents being urged to stay home, restaurants and other business closing and public transit shutting down. The first reports came at 6 pm, the shooting apparently began at a McDonald’s in the shopping centre. Public transportation has been shut down in the area.
At least six people are believed to have been killed in a shooting rampage in a Munich shopping centre today, a police source said, and three armed suspects are at large. Major roads in the Bavarian city were largely empty as special police teams swarmed the area and helicopters carrying snipers swept over rooftops looking for as many as three perpetrators carrying long guns.
Munich police tweeted that there were “several injuries” but could not confirm reports of casualties, and it wasn’t clear whether anyone had been taken into custody.
A Munich police spokeswoman says there are “several dead and wounded” in a shooting at a mall in the Bavarian capital, and police are still hunting down the suspect or suspects.
Claudia Kuenzel tells The Associated Press that “the shooter or shooters are still on the run” – either in the mall or around the mall.
It’s the second attack in Germany in less than a week. He was quoted as saying that police didn’t know whether they were dealing with one or more shooters.
Police responded in large numbers to the mall in the northern part of Munich, not far from the city’s Olympic Stadium in the Moosach district of the Bavarian capital. Die Welt has reported that the police are aware of these posts, and do believe there are “several” shooters. People are reported to have fled in terror over railway platforms when police ordered them to leave. Police asking media to not upload photos and video as to not compromise safety of German law enforcement personnel. That attack, allegedly carried out by a 17-year-old Afghan, was in the town of Wurzburg, north of Munich, in the same state of Bavaria.
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All survived, although one man from the train remains in life-threatening condition. Police shot and killed him in a confrontation. Islamic State also claimed responsibility for that attack.
