
Police Confirm Eight Dead in Munich Mall Shooting
Munich police confirmed at least eight people are dead in a shooting attack they describe as terrorism, and say that up to three perpatrators armed with long guns remain on the loose in the city.
German police responded Friday evening to reports of gunfire in a Munich shopping center. Multiple people have died in the incident, and 10 are injured, according to police sources cited by Agence-France Presse. The police have officially confirmed "several injuries."
Facebook (FB) - Get Report activated its "safety check" feature, which allows users to verify that they are unharmed. The U.S. State Department issued an advisory warning American citizens to shelter in place until the police issue an all-clear. Munich police have posted a number to call for information about missing friends and relatives.
Munich residents were told to clear the streets and urged not publicly share photos or video of police activity as the manhunt unfolds, with federal police and special forces joining local law enforcement in the hunt for the shooter or shooters. "We assume they are still in Munich," a police official said in a televised press briefing.
Witnesses report as many as three armed perpetrators, police said. No arrests have been made. The city entered a state of lockdown with public transit operations halted as police undertook a massive manhunt.
Locals offered shelter to those stranded by the transit shutdown using the Twitter hashtag #OffeneTur (#OpenDoor). "People are coming in with strangers - and before they come in they say 'I am unarmed,'" Anja Perkuhn, a reporter for Munich newspaper Abendzeitung, wrote describing the scene on Twitter.
A large police operation is underway near the Olympia Shopping Mall, the Munich Police Department said.
Munich police issued a warning earlier in the day to leave the area around the mall and remain at home.
"Avoid public places in #Munchen. The situation is still unclear," Munich police said on Twitter (TWTR) - Get Report at 7:17 pm local time.
A police spokesperson has called the incident a "shooting spree," CNN reports.
The scale and motivation of the apparent shooting were not immediately clear. On Monday, Germany was rocked by the first attack in the country that has been claimed by the Islamic State, when an ax-wielding 17-year-old male injured several on board a train in southern German and was shot dead by police.
Mass shootings are relatively rare in Germany. The country's gun laws were tightened after the 2009 school shooting in Winnenden that left 16 dead, including the juvenile shooter.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This story is breaking and will be updated with new developments.
This story was originally published at 1:41 pm ET.









