Bayerischer Rundfunk, the public broadcaster in Munich, reported that a witness had seen a gunman opening fire at the restaurant and then descending into the subway station under the mall.
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Munich police spokeswoman Claudia Kuenzel said there are “several dead and wounded”, the Associated Press reports.
Gunshots were fired Friday in a Munich shopping center, according to preliminary reports from German and global media.
It was not immediately clear who carried out the attack, which took place a week after an ax-wielding teenager went on a rampage on a German train.
A spokesman for Munich police says the number of people killed in a shooting attack has increased to eight.
Dpa is quoting Munich police as saying no one has been captured yet.
“All those undertaking travel to Munich are advised to be in touch with their respective airlines/travel agencies”, another post said. He was quoted as saying that police didn’t know whether they were dealing with one or more shooters.
The city is on lockdown tonight following the rampage involving three gunmen and a major police operation is ongoing around the Olympic Park.
The Bavarian Interior Ministry confirmed at least one dead and multiple people hurt at Olympia Einkaufszentrum mall.
The assailant had arrived as an unaccompanied minor in Germany in June 2015 and had been staying with a foster family in the region of the attack for the last two weeks.
A worker at a shop in the mall, Harun Balta, said: “We are still stuck inside the mall without any information, we’re waiting for the police to rescue us”.
Television images showed armed police officers atop the shopping mall, trying to get the situation under control.
Thamina Stoll, a Duke University student from Munich, was heading to the shopping center with her family when she saw people flee.
Munich’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung paper says city’s transit system has shut down following shooting at a mall. AFP/Getty Images Police walks inside a subyay station Karlsplatz (Stachus) near a shopping mall following a shooting on July 22, 2016 in Munich. That alleged statement has caused authorities to think the attack is not linked to the Islamic State group, but is instead a case of homegrown, right-wing terrorism.
The shopping center is next to the Munich Olympic stadium, where the Palestinian militant group Black September took 11 Israeli athletes hostage and eventually killed them during the 1972 Olympic Games. The attacker was shot dead but all of his victims survived. One man remains in life-threatening condition at a local hospital.
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In the U.S., President Barack Obama pledged to provide Germany with whatever help it might need to investigate the mall shooting.
