An 18-year old youth on Friday opened fire on bystanders in a crowded shopping mall in Germany, killing at least 9 and injuring a further 16, according to Munich police.
Advertisement
Friday’s carnage came on the fifth anniversary of right-wing fanatic Breivik’s massacre in Norway that killed 77 people, many of them youngsters.
Police chief Hubertus Andrae said the shooter was an 18-year-old German-Iranian man whose motive was “completely unclear”.
A man who was shopping in the mall and identified himself as Abim told rolling news channel NTV that one of the gunmen was “dressed as Father Christmas and wearing sunglasses”, but the account could not be immediately verified by police.
Thamina Stoll, a nearby resident, added: “There were like 50 people running towards our house to seek shelter, and there was a helicopter circling above us for about 20 minutes and sirens”.
“We believe there was more than one perpetrator”. Andrae said police believe the video is genuine. “The investigations will be running on all cylinders through the night”, Mr Andrae said.
Ten people, including the alleged shooter, were killed in the attack. “Fears grew with every attack in Paris, Istanbul or Brussels”, said the Abendzeitung newspaper’s editor-in-chief Michael Schilling.
Police said eight people were killed and an unknown number of others were wounded. The images have not been verified but appear to match the video of a man firing on passersby outside the OEZ McDonald’s restaurant.
“At the moment no culprit has been arrested”, police in the Bavarian capital said on social media.
The force first received reports of shots being fired near the north Munich shopping centre at around 5.50pm local time on Friday evening.
The attacker opened fire in the McDonald’s on Hanauer Street with a weapon thought to have been a handgun.
A police spokesman had earlier told AFP they suspected “terrorism” in the rampage, while German news agency DPA quoted police as warning of an “acute terror situation”. “Please avoid the area around the mall”.
The attack began at a McDonald’s near the Olympia shopping center. The man, whose name wasn’t released, was not previously known to police and there was no evidence of any links to terrorist organizations, Andrae said.
However Mr Andrae discounted earlier fears that there were up to three gunmen involved in the attack that were triggered by two bystanders fleeing in a vehicle at “considerable speed”. And there’s still people walking on the streets. They urge people not to post tweets or post photos of police operations in the city.
“We are urgently investigating an incident in Munich and stand ready to provide assistance to British Nationals”, the Foreign Office said in a statement. Witness says something like, ‘Yeah treatment is something for you.’ Shooter: ‘I haven’t done anything here for.
Advertisement
A record 1.1 million migrants and refugees were let in to Germany past year, with Syrians making up the largest group followed by Afghans.
