As the manhunt was launched, helicopters fanned out over the city and Munich’s transit system was shut down.
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Witnesses reported seeing three men with firearms near the Olympia Einkaufszentrum mall.
A witness speaking to rolling news channel NTV said he saw one gunman “dressed as Father Christmas and wearing sunglasses” but the account could not be immediately verified by police.
The pistol-wielding attacker, identified by Munich Police Chief Hubertus Andrae as a dual national, was later found dead of a suspected self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head.
The motive was “unclear” at this point; the teenager had no criminal record.
Munich police eventually gave a “cautious” all-clear at around 1.30am local time.
The shooting, which started at about 6 p.m. local time at the Olympia shopping mall, is over, police spokeswoman Claudia Kvenzel said. I looked down at the Mc Donald*s and saw someone shooting into the crowd.
The mall shooting comes just eight days after 31-year-old Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel used a truck to mow down 84 people, including children, in the French Riviera city of Nice. “That’s where he loaded his weapon”, she said.
Another woman described the chaos inside the restaurant. Then we helped to wash her. “And there’s still people walking on the streets, they’re confused, and nobody knows what’s really going on”.
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. There were also reports of shooting inside the mall.
A Munich police spokeswoman said multiple people have been killed or wounded. The shooter, whose name wasn’t released, was not previously known to police and there was no evidence of any links to terrorist organizations, Andrae said.
Police are tweeting for people to stay inside.
President Barack Obama, commenting on the attack at a previously planned White House meeting on law enforcement, pledged US support for Germany and called the tragedy a reminder that “our way of life” depends on law enforcement.
“Germany is one of our closest allies”, he told reporters.
“We suspect terrorism”, a Munich police spokesman told AFP.
The shooter says: “Yeah what, I was born here”.
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.
The latest wave of Islamist violence across Europe has provided ammunition to those who claim it is impossible to safely assimilate so many newcomers.
Ten of those injured in the mass-shooting were said to be in a critical condition, including a 13-year-old boy. There was no immediate claim of responsibility but supporters of Islamic State celebrated on social media.
However, the German police on Saturday confirmed that attacker acted alone.
Chancellor Angela Merkel will convene her security council on Saturday to address the deadly rampage in the European economic powerhouse which took in more than one million migrants and refugees previous year.
Police responded to the attack in large numbers.
“There’s no clarity so far. We can’t confirm them, but we are investigating along those lines too”. “It was a despicable attack”.
The suspected was reportedly filmed shouting slogans as he carried out the attack and police have appealed for footage.
“You’re a jerk”, a voice is heard shouting at the gunman.
Friday’s carnage came on the fifth anniversary of right-wing fanatic Anders Behring Breivik’s massacre in Norway that killed 77 people.
The mall is located near Munich’s Olympic Stadium, in the city’s northern Moosach district.
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“They later found him dead, killed by a self-inflicted gunshot”.
