RTFri, 22 Jul 2016 17:06 UTC
© RT
Multiple casualties are reported in a shooting at the Olympia shopping mall in Munich, Germany. Police confirmed that shots have been fired in the mall but gave no information on casualties.
Reports on casualties differ. According to the local Muencher Abendzeitung, 15 might have been killed in the center, while German NTV channel puts the death toll at 10.
One person has been killed and 10 injured, according to police cited by AFP.
An assailant has shot people in a cafe located in the shopping center and at a railway station, German BR24 news reports, citing eye witnesses.
The shooter is apparently still on the run, German media reports, citing police.
A man entered the shopping mall and randomly opened fire, injuring many people, a person periscoping from the scene said. Then the shooter reportedly left the center and headed towards a railway station.
The mall is being evacuated, people say online. Reports are circulating of 15 casualties. There has been no official information.
There is a heavy police presence at the center at the moment, police said in a Twitter post, calling on people to avoid the area near the shopping mall.
Staff at the shopping mall still remain in the building. An employee told Reuters that people are hiding in storage rooms.
"All the people from outside came streaming into the store and I only saw one person on the ground who was so severely injured that he definitely didn't survive," the employee told Reuters.
Munich transport authorities say they have halted several bus, train and tram lines.
According to some reports cited by Die Welt, the shooting began in a McDonald's located near the shopping mall.
Comment: Update 1Initially it was reported that one of the three shooters committed suicide. That has been countered by later statements from police that all three shooters fled on foot and are still on the run.
Six people were killed, with injured in the double digits. The manhunt is reportedly their largest police operation in a decade.
Update 2It appears as if the Germans are allowing the Americans to write their ongoing narrative. Police have
announced a "cautious all-clear", claiming that they discovered a body near the scene of the attack, identified as the shooter. Their tweet says, "We found a man, who killed him himself [sic]. We assume, that he was
the only shooter." Munich PD said there is a "high probability" he acted alone, and that he was identified "within the framework of Interpol". "Acting alone", especially when there were multiple reports of multiple shooters, tends to mean that the other suspects got away and the police have no intention of pursuing them (often because they are working for the police in the first place! or intel agencies). The death toll is now nine, plus the shooter.
Sputnik adds:
On Friday, a shooter took aim at shoppers at a mall near the 1972 Olympic stadium, an attack that left at least ten dead and another 20 hospitalized leaving German officials to scramble to piece together the motive and the nature of the incident.
Earlier in the day, the police believed that there were three shooters responsible citing eyewitness accounts from individuals on the scene. Conflicting reports came in as to the identity of the shooter and the motive for his attack. Some witnesses said that the shooter was cursing immigrants and Turks while yelling at victims that he was German. Another witness, however, claims that the shooter yelled "Allahu Akbar" before training his weapon on children.
It would be interesting to know the identities of these witnesses. Any guess why their accounts don't match up with each other?
Update 3The gunman has been identified as Ali Sonboly, an 18-year-old German-Iranian
born and raised in Germany who
lived with his parents. (Picture of the boy
here.) Just hours before the shooting, he allegedly
hacked into the Facebook profile of "Selina Akim" to
lure victims to the McDonald's near the shopping mall by offering them free food. Police say there is no evidence "whatsoever" linking him to ISIS. He had been receiving psychiatric and medical care for depression. Neighbors describe him as
quiet,
normal and shy.
At this point, his motives are
unclear. Police
reportedly found articles on killing sprees and the English book
Why Kids Kill at his home. Police are saying there is an "
obvious link" to the 2011 Norway massacre and Anders Breivik, and that he was "obsessed" with mass shootings. Classmates
say he once used an image of Breivik on WhatsApp. He apparently had used the gaming network Stream to threaten
to kill other gamers.
As for those earlier reports of multiple shooters, according to the
Guardian, "the police chief said two people who fled the area quickly were investigated but had 'nothing to do with the incident'." Here are accounts of the witnesses mentioned in the last update:
A woman named Loretta has told CNN that she was in the McDonald's when a man with a gun came out of a bathroom and began shooting. "I come out of the toilet and I hear like an alarm, boom, boom, boom. He's killing the children. The children were sitting to eat. They can't run," she recalled. Loretta claimed that she heard the shooters yelling "Allahu Akbar!", a Muslim call to praise god, that is also shouted by Islamists during deadly attacks.
At the same time, a video that appeared online show a man shouting "I'm German, f*** foreigners" as he walks across the roof of the shopping mall's car parking.
According to locals, the shopping mall is located near the Hasenbergl district, an area densely populated with immigrants.
Comment: Update 1
Initially it was reported that one of the three shooters committed suicide. That has been countered by later statements from police that all three shooters fled on foot and are still on the run. Six people were killed, with injured in the double digits. The manhunt is reportedly their largest police operation in a decade.
Update 2
It appears as if the Germans are allowing the Americans to write their ongoing narrative. Police have announced a "cautious all-clear", claiming that they discovered a body near the scene of the attack, identified as the shooter. Their tweet says, "We found a man, who killed him himself [sic]. We assume, that he was the only shooter." Munich PD said there is a "high probability" he acted alone, and that he was identified "within the framework of Interpol". "Acting alone", especially when there were multiple reports of multiple shooters, tends to mean that the other suspects got away and the police have no intention of pursuing them (often because they are working for the police in the first place! or intel agencies). The death toll is now nine, plus the shooter. Sputnik adds: It would be interesting to know the identities of these witnesses. Any guess why their accounts don't match up with each other?
Update 3
The gunman has been identified as Ali Sonboly, an 18-year-old German-Iranian born and raised in Germany who lived with his parents. (Picture of the boy here.) Just hours before the shooting, he allegedly hacked into the Facebook profile of "Selina Akim" to lure victims to the McDonald's near the shopping mall by offering them free food. Police say there is no evidence "whatsoever" linking him to ISIS. He had been receiving psychiatric and medical care for depression. Neighbors describe him as quiet, normal and shy.
At this point, his motives are unclear. Police reportedly found articles on killing sprees and the English book Why Kids Kill at his home. Police are saying there is an "obvious link" to the 2011 Norway massacre and Anders Breivik, and that he was "obsessed" with mass shootings. Classmates say he once used an image of Breivik on WhatsApp. He apparently had used the gaming network Stream to threaten to kill other gamers.
As for those earlier reports of multiple shooters, according to the Guardian, "the police chief said two people who fled the area quickly were investigated but had 'nothing to do with the incident'." Here are accounts of the witnesses mentioned in the last update: