8 dead in Munich mall shooting; police hunt up to 3 suspects

[rooster59]

8 dead in Munich mall shooting; police hunt up to 3 suspects

MICHAEL FAULHABER, Associated Press
FRANK JORDANS, Associated Press


MUNICH (AP) — Police hunted for an unknown number of gunmen who opened fire in a Munich shopping mall and at a nearby McDonald's Friday, killing eight people and wounding others in a rampage they described as suspected terrorism. Authorities urged residents to remain inside and put the Bavarian capital on lockdown.

"At the moment no culprit has been arrested," police said on social media as Germany's elite GSG9 anti-terror unit and federal police were called in to help in the manhunt. "The search is taking place at high speed."

Witnesses reported seeing three men with firearms near the Olympia Einkaufszentrum mall, one of Munich's largest.

In addition to the dead, at least 10 people were hospitalized. Munich police spokesman Marcus Martins said a ninth body had been found and police were "intensively examining" whether it might be one of the suspects. That body was found near the attack scene but authorities but police did not say exactly where it was.

The city sent a smartphone alert declaring an "emergency situation" and telling people to stay indoors and German rail company Deutsche Bahn stopped train traffic to Munich's main station.

It was the third major act of violence against civilians in Western Europe in eight days. The previous attacks, in the French resort city of Nice and on a train in Bavaria, were claimed by the Islamic State group.

While police called the mall shooting an act of terrorism, they said they had "no indication" it involved Islamic extremism and at least one witness said he heard a shooter shout an anti-foreigner slur.

The attack started at a fast food restaurant shortly before 6 p.m. local time, police said.

Video obtained by The Associated Press from German news agency NonstopNews showed two bodies with sheets draped over them not far from a McDonald's across from the mall. Another video posted online shows a gunman emerging from the door of the McDonald's, raising what appears to be a pistol with both hands, and aiming at people on the sidewalk, firing as they flee in terror.

Witness Luan Zequiri said he was in the mall when the shooting started Friday.

He told German broadcaster n-tv that he heard the attacker yell an anti-foreigner slur and "there was a really loud scream."

He said he saw only one attacker, who was wearing jack boots and a backpack.

"I looked in his direction and he shot two people on the stairs," Zequiri said. He said he hid in a shop, then ran outside when the coast was clear and saw bodies of the dead and wounded on the ground.

Germany's Interior Ministry said Munich police had set up a hotline for concerned citizens. Residents of Munich opened their doors to people seeking shelter using the Twitter hashtag #opendoor.

Also on Twitter, police asked people to refrain from speculating about the attack. 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's was being regularly briefed on the attack, said her chief of staff, Peter Altmaier.

"All that we know and can say right now is that it was a cruel and inhumane attack," he said on German public channel ARD. "We can't rule out that there are terrorist links. We can't confirm them, but we are investigating along those lines too."

Altmaier noted that Friday was the fifth anniversary of the massacre in Oslo, Norway, by a far-right extremist that killed 77 people, 69 of them at a youth summer camp.

"You can only have absolute security in an absolute surveillance state, and nobody wants that, it would be the opposite of our free western European way of life," he said. "But, and this became clear again today, we can't talk down this danger. It's a danger that many countries are exposed, especially in the west, and that's why it's important to give our security agencies the instruments they need."

Police responded in large numbers to the mall in the northern part of Munich, not far from the city's Olympic Stadium in the Moosach district of the Bavarian capital.

It was also not far from where Palestinian attackers opened fire in the Olympic Village in 1972, killing 11 Israeli athletes. Five guerrillas and a police officer were also killed. The GSG9 anti-terrorism unit was created after that attack, though the city saw a worse one in 1980, when 13 people were killed and more than 200 injured at the city's annual Oktoberfest in a bombing blamed on a student with ties to a neo-Nazi group.

It was the second attack in Germany in less than a week. On Monday, a 17-year-old Afghan wounded four people in an ax-and-knife attack on a regional train near the Bavarian city of Wuerzburg, and another woman outside as he fled. All survived, although one man from the train remains in life-threatening condition. The attacker was shot and killed by police.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the train attack, but authorities have said the teen likely acted alone.

Gun attacks in Germany are uncommon. Firearm ownership is widespread but they are strictly regulated, with purchasers first having to take training courses in order to be granted a permit to own one. Many types of firearms are banned.

In the U.S., President Barack Obama pledged to provide Germany with whatever help it might need to investigate the mall shooting.

-- (c) Associated Press 2016-07-23

[Somtamnication]

This is getting out of control! Complete madness!

More to come, the trojan horses (10000s of them) are in. I am staying in Thailand.

[Kiwiken]

It is funny that the attackers all have a red pack. Sounds like one right wing lunatic. As this apparently is area inhabited by immigrants. RIP the innocent killed

[Thaiwine]

They are saying now a lone gunman who killed himself

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36873180

[kingalfred]

The attacker shouted "Allahu Akbar" Merkel is responsible, this woman is totally complicit for opening the doors of Europe to Islamic terror. Germany must smash CDU If party doesn't remove her

[shirtless]

The religion of peace is at war again, westerners need to wake up this will be coming to your postcode soon.

[Kiwiken]

The attacker shouted "Allahu Akbar" Merkel is responsible, this woman is totally complicit for opening the doors of Europe to Islamic terror. Germany must smash CDU If party doesn't remove her

But he also is clearly heard yelling "I am German"

[Steely Dan]

In other news liberals fret over nasty words which need censoring, whilst practicing a policy of self-immolation to signal how virtuous they are.

[canuckamuck]

The news is getting redundant. Perhaps we can get some sort of statistical table for the daily Islamist attacks. Something like they do for sports stats.

Right now France is ahead but Germany is showing signs of moving up.

[Kiwiken]

The religion of peace is at war again, westerners need to wake up this will be coming to your postcode soon.

And if this unknown Gun man is identified as a Lutheran or Roman Catholic will you then extend your rhetoric to Christians as well? Do not assume you know when the truth has not yet been revealed.

[Dagnabbit]

I tell you what is madness....

OK fine - we are willing to wait for the investigation - but why do you feel the need to issue a specific denial. How come you never said "there are no indications it was aliens?"

Don't speculate on what the person may have said aloud. Well - I wasn't speculating but now you mention it, I presume you mean the words "allahu akbar"???

Some Professor equating islamist extremists to Anders Brevik. Islamists killed almost 33,000 people last year in terrorist attacks - the majority of them in the Middle East. So why try to compare the two? Are we somehow to think that the sum of all Islamist Terror attacks is equal to the attack by Anders Brevik. So Neo-Nazis are killing as many as Islamists? Really?

Of course, we don't know who carried out the attack in Germany today but by putting out these statements, it seems we are denying that Islamist terrorists exists. I think there's a bunch of dead Muslims in the middle east that would disagree. Can we not just call these crazy people by what they like to call themselves? Jihadi's? Islamic Extremists?

This is insanity

[rooster59]

Police give all-clear in Munich shooting; say suspect dead

FRANK JORDANS, Associated Press
DAVID RISING, Associated Press
MICHAEL FAULHABER, Associated Press


MUNICH (AP) — A gunman opened fire in a crowded Munich shopping mall and a nearby McDonald's Friday night, killing nine people and wounding at least 10 others before killing himself, said authorities who called the rampage an act of terrorism.

Police gave a "cautious all clear" early Saturday morning, more than seven hours after the attack began. They said a body found near the scene was that of the shooter and he appeared to have acted alone.

Witnesses had reported seeing three men with firearms near the Olympia Einkaufszentrum mall, but police said on Twitter that "as part of our manhunt we found a person who had killed himself — the person is likely to have been the attacker who, according to the current state of the investigation, acted alone."

They lifted a shutdown of all public transport in the Bavarian capital, and said more details would be disclosed at a press conference later in the morning.

After gunfire broke out at the mall, one of Munich's largest, the city sent a smartphone alert declaring an "emergency situation" and telling people to stay indoors, while all rail, subway and trolley service was halted in the city.

It was the third major act of violence against civilians in Western Europe in eight days. The previous attacks, in the French resort city of Nice and on a train in Bavaria, were claimed by the Islamic State group.

While police called the mall shooting an act of terrorism, they said they had "no indication" it involved Islamic extremism and at least one witness said he heard a shooter shout an anti-foreigner slur.

The attack started shortly before 6 p.m. at a McDonald's across the street from the mall, which was filled with people doing their weekend shopping. As dozens of shots rang out, terrified shoppers ran from the scene, some carrying babies and pushing strollers.

Video obtained by The Associated Press from German news agency NonstopNews showed two bodies with sheets draped over them not far from the fastfood restaurant. Another video posted online showed a gunman emerging from the door of the McDonald's, raising what appeared to be a pistol with both hands and aiming at people on the sidewalk, firing as they fled in terror.

Witness Luan Zequiri said he was in the mall when the shooting began.

He told German broadcaster n-tv that he heard the attacker yell an anti-foreigner insult and "there was a really loud scream."

He said he saw only one attacker, who was wearing jack boots and a backpack.

"I looked in his direction and he shot two people on the stairs," Zequiri said. He said he hid in a shop, then ran outside when the coast was clear and saw bodies of the dead and wounded on the ground.

Germany's Interior Ministry said Munich police had set up a hotline for concerned citizens. Residents of Munich opened their doors to people seeking shelter using the Twitter hashtag #opendoor.

Also on Twitter, police asked people to refrain from speculating about the attack. 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 was being regularly briefed on the attack, said her chief of staff, Peter Altmaier.

"All that we know and can say right now is that it was a cruel and inhumane attack," he said on German public channel ARD. "We can't rule out that there are terrorist links. We can't confirm them, but we are investigating along those lines too."

Altmaier noted that Friday was the fifth anniversary of the massacre in Oslo, Norway, by a far-right extremist that killed 77 people, 69 of them at a youth summer camp.

"You can only have absolute security in an absolute surveillance state, and nobody wants that, it would be the opposite of our free western European way of life," he said. "But, and this became clear again today, we can't talk down this danger. It's a danger that many countries are exposed, especially in the west, and that's why it's important to give our security agencies the instruments they need."

Police responded in large numbers to the mall in the northern part of Munich, near the city's Olympic Stadium in the Moosach district of the Bavarian capital.

It was also not far from where Palestinian attackers opened fire in the Olympic Village in 1972, killing 11 Israeli athletes. Five guerrillas and a police officer were also killed. The GSG9 anti-terrorism unit was created after that attack, though the city saw a worse one in 1980, when 13 people were killed and more than 200 injured at the city's annual Oktoberfest in a bombing blamed on a student with ties to a neo-Nazi group.

It was the second attack in Germany in less than a week. On Monday, a 17-year-old Afghan wounded four people in an ax-and-knife attack on a regional train near the Bavarian city of Wuerzburg, and another woman outside as he fled. All survived, although one man from the train remains in life-threatening condition. The attacker was shot and killed by police.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the train attack, but authorities have said the teen likely acted alone.

Gun attacks in Germany are uncommon. Firearm ownership is widespread but they are strictly regulated, with purchasers first having to take training courses in order to be granted a permit to own one. Many types of firearms are banned.

In the U.S., President Barack Obama pledged to provide Germany with whatever help it might need to investigate the mall shooting.

-- (c) Associated Press 2016-07-23

[Caps]

The religion of peace is at war again, westerners need to wake up this will be coming to your postcode soon.

And if this unknown Gun man is identified as a Lutheran or Roman Catholic will you then extend your rhetoric to Christians as well? Do not assume you know when the truth has not yet been revealed.

You are right, but the chances are Shirtless is right, the odds are better then Brexit

[Kiwiken]

The religion of peace is at war again, westerners need to wake up this will be coming to your postcode soon.

And if this unknown Gun man is identified as a Lutheran or Roman Catholic will you then extend your rhetoric to Christians as well? Do not assume you know when the truth has not yet been revealed.

You are right, but the chances are Shirtless is right, the odds are better then Brexit

The Perpetrator is said to have yelled anti foreigner insults and yelled at others "I am German". Most likely the victims are Immigrants so I guess to many of you it is alright then. To me it shows a sad polarisation in Our Societies

[OMGImInPattaya]

It seems Merkel's "refugee" chickens are quickly coming home to roost. It was always utter madness to allow in millions of unscreened Muslim migrants, and it's consequences were entirely predictable.

[RickBradford]

These terrorist attacks are a weekly occurrence now, so should no longer be front page news.

Give them a paragraph on page 12, next to the news of yet another "Indian bus plunge into ravine kills 23" mini-story.

[Caps]

Watching the live German news brief on the BBC and the Police say the gunman was an Iranian from Munich, 18 year old, duel nationality

[MissAndry]

The Perpetrator is said to have yelled anti foreigner insults and yelled at others "I am German". Most likely the victims are Immigrants so I guess to many of you it is alright then. To me it shows a sad polarisation in Our Societies

But the eye witness failed to identify the colour of the man.

Which means almost certainly he wasn't white. Because they would have said.

[MobileContent]

This is getting out of control! Complete madness!

More to come, the trojan horses (10000s of them) are in. I am staying in Thailand.

It looks like the attack was done by right wing terrorists (Neo Nazis).

Sorry my mistake. I just heard the news that it was an Iranian. Apologize !

[Matej]

This is getting out of control! Complete madness!

More to come, the trojan horses (10000s of them) are in. I am staying in Thailand.

It looks like the attack was done by right wing terrorists (Neo Nazis).

18 years old German with Iranian origin. See the last news.

[SgtRock]

This is getting out of control! Complete madness!

More to come, the trojan horses (10000s of them) are in. I am staying in Thailand.

It looks like the attack was done by right wing terrorists (Neo Nazis).

Of course

BREAKING: Police identify the gunman as an 18-year-old German-Iranian from Munich.

http://news.sky.com/story/live-shots-fired-at-german-shopping-centre-10509759

[MobileContent]

This is getting out of control! Complete madness!

More to come, the trojan horses (10000s of them) are in. I am staying in Thailand.

It looks like the attack was done by right wing terrorists (Neo Nazis).

18 years old German with Iranian origin. See the last news.

Sorry my mistake. The news is very confusing in Germany and it looks like both Spiegel and Focus don't report what the International media has been reporting already.

[smedly]

The religion of peace is at war again, westerners need to wake up this will be coming to your postcode soon.

And if this unknown Gun man is identified as a Lutheran or Roman Catholic will you then extend your rhetoric to Christians as well? Do not assume you know when the truth has not yet been revealed.

would you like to take a guess at the bookies odds on that........please share what you think, I honestly would like to know

here are the runners

- we all know this one - it begins with "M" possibly from Iran

- some sick dude off his meds

- Lutheran - off his meds

- Roman Catholic - should be on meds

- someone out shopping and lost it

- Kiwikens Uncle - off his meds

[Kiwiken]

Apparently a German born of Iranian Descent. People going he is Iranian so he is not white. Please define white? Spaniards and Portugese are not always pale in colour are they white?

I have Olive skin but blue eyes and brown hair . Am I white?

The Guy might be a Shiite or he could be an Iranian Kurd. What if he is a Christian of Iranian descent? Does that make a difference.

The innnocents this man murdered if most are Immigrants does this make it ok?

He is said to have said he was born in Germany, Living in a depressed area of Munich.

He yelled anti immigrant statements.

Yes He is a Nutter in any ones books. Murdered innocent people. We will have to wait and see if he was radical. Was he inspired by that crazed Butcher Anders Brevic or by those deranged Camel Humpers ISIL we will have to wait and see

[Matej]

The best way to be informed in seconds today is via Twitter. Just follow main media. CNN, BBC, Reuters and so on

[nausea]

Strange he is Iranian, they are Shiites, and directly opposed to the Sunni ISIL guys. In fact Shiites are getting bombed left, right and center themselves. I'll wait for the full story on this one. There may be more to it than meets the eye.

[hansnl]

The religion of peace is at war again, westerners need to wake up this will be coming to your postcode soon.

And if this unknown Gun man is identified as a Lutheran or Roman Catholic will you then extend your rhetoric to Christians as well? Do not assume you know when the truth has not yet been revealed.

You are right, but the chances are Shirtless is right, the odds are better then Brexit

The Perpetrator is said to have yelled anti foreigner insults and yelled at others "I am German". Most likely the victims are Immigrants so I guess to many of you it is alright then. To me it shows a sad polarisation in Our Societies

Who started, in fact, this polarisation by acts of terror?

[Kiwiken]

Who started, in fact, this polarisation by acts of terror?

That started when we began the continued destabilisation of the Middle East and Africa in the 1960 + 70's. Do you actually think this is more recent?

[Steely Dan]

The religion of peace is at war again, westerners need to wake up this will be coming to your postcode soon.

And if this unknown Gun man is identified as a Lutheran or Roman Catholic will you then extend your rhetoric to Christians as well? Do not assume you know when the truth has not yet been revealed.

You are right, but the chances are Shirtless is right, the odds are better then Brexit

The Perpetrator is said to have yelled anti foreigner insults and yelled at others "I am German". Most likely the victims are Immigrants so I guess to many of you it is alright then. To me it shows a sad polarisation in Our Societies

'Sad Polarization', if you are correct, due in main to suicidal immigration policies and the ensuing crime wave. A state of affairs leading to vigilantism filling the void created by government inaction.

[TooPoopedToPop]

It seems Merkel's "refugee" chickens are quickly coming home to roost. It was always utter madness to allow in millions of unscreened Muslim migrants, and it's consequences were entirely predictable.

There is no possible way to ​screen ​hordes of people.

What makes more sense is to limit their numbers just like the US did between the early 1920s and the mid 1960s.