This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/23/world/europe/munich-mall.html

The article has changed 16 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 2 Version 3
Several Are Believed Dead in Shooting at Shopping Center in Munich Several Are Believed Dead in Shooting Near Shopping Center in Munich
(35 minutes later)
BERLIN — A gunman opened fire at a shopping mall in Munich late Friday afternoon, killing several people and wounding several others, according to German news media reports. BERLIN — At least one gunman opened fire near a shopping mall in Munich just before 6 p.m. on Friday, killing several people and wounding several others, according to German officials and news reports.
The shooting started in a fast-food restaurant at 5:52 p.m., according to initial police accounts. The police ordered people to stay away from the shopping mall, the Olympia-Einkaufszentrum. They shut down traffic and issued an extraordinary appeal for people to avoid public places, including the subway system, suggesting that the gunman might still be at large. On Twitter and on television, witnesses reported hearing sirens and police helicopters. The attack shut down traffic and public transportation across Munich, Germany’s third-most-populous city. “Right now, we don’t know where the perpetrator or perpetrators are,” the Munich police said. “Please be careful and avoid public areas.”
“The situation is still completely confusing,” Thomas Baumann, a deputy spokesman of the Munich police, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur, the German press agency. “It is not clear whether is one or many shooters.” The police said they received a call at 5:50 p.m. on Friday from someone who reported hearing shots on Hanauer Street, moving into Ries Street and then the Olympia-Einkaufszentrum, or Olympic shopping mall.
Bayerischer Rundfunk, the public broadcaster in Munich, reported that a witness saw a gunman opening fire around a cafe and in the subway station under the mall. A video distributed online showed a man dressed in black — apparently armed with a handgun and a rifle — opening fire near a McDonald’s restaurant.
The Munich police warned people around the mall to stay in their homes and get off the street, amid reports that the gunman was still at large. The police said that witnesses had reported three armed individuals.
The Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper also cited unnamed police officials as saying that several people had been killed, but there was no official confirmation from the authorities. The police said in a statement on their Facebook page that there was no verified information yet on the extent and severity of the injuries or the number of victims.
“The police are engaged with all possible force, and are receiving support from special forces, the federal police and officers from the surrounding region,” the police said. Munich is the capital of the state of Bavaria.
There were no immediate arrests. The Munich police warned people around the mall to stay in their homes and to get off the street, amid reports that the gunman was still at large. A square in Munich, the Karlsplatz, also known as the Stachus, was evacuated, after reports of gunfire, which appeared to be a false alarm.
Bayerischer Rundfunk, the public broadcaster in Munich, reported that a witness had seen a gunman opening fire at the restaurant and then descending into the subway station under the mall.
The authorities shut down traffic and issued an extraordinary appeal for people to avoid public places, including the subway system, suggesting that the gunman might still be at large.
Television images showed armed police officers atop the shopping mall, trying to get the situation under control. On Twitter and on television, witnesses reported hearing sirens and police helicopters.
“The situation is still completely confusing,” Thomas Baumann, a deputy spokesman of the Munich police, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur, the German news agency. “It is not clear whether there is one or many shooters.”
Miriam Arlt, who was in the area, said in an email interview that she was near the McDonald’s when the shooting occurred.
“I only saw fleeing people and now see police and a helicopter,” she said.
Her roommate, she said, was riding his bicycle across from the restaurant, which is near the entrance of the mall, when he noticed a panicked woman running and waving at a bus parked across the street.
The roommate stopped at the traffic light, where he saw three girls, frightened and crying; on the other side of the street were three people lying on their back, two of them motionless. As the roommate was talking to the girls, he heard an additional set of gunshots — six or seven, he estimated — coming from the entrance to the mall, and fled. Ms. Arlt said her roommate did not want to give an interview because he had been traumatized by the violence.
The police and security forces in Germany were already on alert after a 17-year-old man wielding an ax on Monday attacked passengers on a train in Bavaria and then a woman walking her dog, before he was shot dead by the police.
The Olympia-Einkaufszentrum, which opened in time for the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, bills itself as the largest shopping center in the southern state of Bavaria.The Olympia-Einkaufszentrum, which opened in time for the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, bills itself as the largest shopping center in the southern state of Bavaria.
Police and security forces in Germany were already on alert after a 17-year-old man wielding an ax on Monday attacked passengers on a train and then a woman walking her dog, before he was shot dead by the police. The 1972 Summer Olympics were marred by tragedy: Eight Palestinian militants invaded the Olympic Village, and killed two Israeli athletes, and then held nine other Israelis hostage as the terrorists attempted to bargain for the release of 200 Palestinian prisoners in Israel. The hostages, several of their captors and a policeman were killed in a failed rescue attempt.