Several people have been reported to be killed.
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Munich police chief Hubertus Andrae told a news conference early Saturday that the suspect was a dual citizen from Munich and his motive was still “fully unclear”.
Earlier, a police spokesman had said terrorism was suspected, without revealing any immediate indications of an Islamist link.
“The rise of terrorism threatens the way of life for all civilized people, and we must do everything in our power to keep it from our shores”, the Republican presidential candidate said.
“We were informed not to go to public places and the traffic was shut down – so we had just two choices, either to stay or go by foot or if someone had a vehicle – to leave the city by auto”, he added.
Almost three hours after the shooting, authorities found a body about 1 km (0.6 miles) from the scene that was later determined to be the gunman.
After the shooting, the gunman moved across the street to the mall, which is near the site of the 1972 Summer Olympics where Israeli athletes were killed by Palestinian attackers.
Two men initially suspected as accomplices in the shooting who had left the scene in a auto were later interviewed and cleared, police said.
A cell-phone video posted online showed the person filming from a balcony engaging verbally with the suspect dressed in black standing on the rooftop of the mall parking structure.
Two individuals were seen driving quickly away from the scene, but they were later cleared of any wrongdoing, the police chief said.
Beck said the number of people receiving hospital treatment stood at 16, three of whom were seriously wounded.
Witnesses had reported seeing three men with firearms near the Olympia Einkaufszentrum mall, but Andrae said two other people who fled the area were investigated but had “nothing to do with the incident”.
The posting, sent from a young woman’s account, urged people to come to the mall at 4 p.m. (1400 GMT), saying: “I’ll give you something if you want, but not too expensive”. This is the third attack on civilians in Western Europe in a span of eight days.
Till now no one has claimed responsibility of the attack, but supporters of Islamic State celebrated on social media.
One woman who wished to only be known as Lauretta told CNN she was in the McDonald’s restaurant at the time of the attack and saw many casualties that were children. With a gun in his hand, the attacker randomly starts firing at a crowd of people who flee in fear.
Witness Luan Zequiri said he was in the mall when the shooting began and “there was a really loud scream”, he told German broadcaster n-tv.
One witness said the gunman cursed foreigners while carrying out his attack and was overheard yelling: “You damn foreigners”.
“I saw him every once in a while pass by, he was a very shy guy and tall, about 6′ 2”. “But mostly it was surprisingly calm”, said Elena Hakes, wearing a blue traditional dress, who had been with a friend in the Odeonsplatz square.
Robert Heimberger, the head of Bavaria’s criminal police, said it appeared the shooter had hacked a Facebook account and sent a message inviting people to come to the mall for a free giveaway.
Germany’s interior minister cut short his holiday in the United States to go back to Berlin late Friday to meet with security officials.
German chancellor Angela Merkel is due to chair a meeting of her government’s security cabinet on Saturday in the wake of the killing spree. “We can’t rule out that there are terrorist links”.
Most of the victims were teenagers.
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The shopping centre in the northern part of Munich is not far from the city’s Olympic Stadium in the Moosach district of the Bavarian capital.
