During the shooting, witnesses said he spoke with a heavy southern German accent and said “I’m German” while carrying out his attack, but that he also used the Arabic saying “Allahu Akbar”, meaning “God is Great” and something that has been shouted before nearly all Western terror attacks.
Advertisement
The teenager, who held dual German and Iranian citizenship and had lived in Munich for more than two years, shot himself dead about 1 kilometre away from the shopping centre. The train attacker appears to have been influenced by Islamic State propaganda.
Police are requesting that anyone with video footage, pictures or audio of Friday’s attack upload them to a dedicated account.
Munich police say one of those killed could have been the shooter.
-6:33 p.m. Police confirm that a shooting has broken out in the Olympia Shopping Center. “It is one part of the rather comprehensive investigation that we are conducting with the federal police forces”.
In all, 10 people lost their lives in the bloody attack and another 21 people were hospitalized.
Bayrischer Rundfunk reported that shops in the centre of Munich had closed with customers inside though police said reports of shots fired at a location downtown had been a false alarm.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s chief of staff has announced she will convene her security council today in Berlin.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the train attack, but authorities have said the teen likely acted alone.
Asked about a possible Islamist motive to the shootings at the news conference, the police spokesman said authorities had “no indication” of such a link.
The gunman, whose body was found on a side street near the mall, was not identified by name but Andrae said he was not previously known to police. They have yet to release the shooter’s name.
People could be seen laying flowers and lighting candles outside the Olympia shopping mall.
On Facebook, police said gunfire was reported in several locations, and that witnesses report seeing three people with firearms.
Shortly after 19.00 German police say that “suspects” were “still on the run” and they urged people to avoid public places.
Advertisement
“The question of terrorism or a rampage is tied to motive and we don’t know the motive”, Mr Andrae said.
