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Munich police are using the term “suspected terrorism” in connection with the shooting at a city mall, according to the Associated Press. USA TODAY
Armed police officers stand guard as other officers escort people from inside the Olympia Einkaufzentrum (OEZ) following a shooting at the shopping center on July 22, 2016 in Munich, Germany.(Photo: Joerg Koch, Getty Images)
Police<span style="color: Red;">*</span>declared<span style="color: Red;">*</span>an "acute terrorist situation" Friday in Munich and shut down traffic<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and rail service in the southern<span style="color: Red;">*</span>German city<span style="color: Red;">*</span>to search for as many as<span style="color: Red;">*</span>three gunmen who went on a shooting rampage at a shopping mall, killing at least eight<span style="color: Red;">*</span>people.
Police said a ninth body was found at the scene of the attack and authorities were investigating whether it belonged to an attacker.
"The<span style="color: Red;">*</span>suspects are still on the run," Munich police said in an earlier statement. "Please avoid public places.”
Major roads in the Bavarian city were largely empty as special police teams swarmed the area and helicopters carrying snipers swept over<span style="color: Red;">*</span>rooftops looking for as many as three<span style="color: Red;">*</span>perpetrators carrying long guns.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Munich police declared an "akute terrorlage" or "acute terrorist situation," triggering the shutdown of major roads, Süddeutsche Zeitung<span style="color: Red;">*</span>reported.
"We are categorizing this as a terror attack only in our response of freeing up the largest possible force to handle the situation," Police spokesman Marcus da Gloria Martins<span style="color: Red;">*</span>told reporters. He said several were wounded, but he did not have an exact count.
In response to questions from reporters during a news conference, police said they had no information to link the attack to a radical Islamist<span style="color: Red;">*</span>group.
Horst Seehofer, prime minister of the state of Bavaria,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann<span style="color: Red;">*</span>scheduled a crisis meeting at the State Chancellery in Munich.
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Germany's dpa news agency: Police say "we expect multiple dead" in Munich mall shooting. (July 22) AP
Details of the shooting were unclear, but witnesses indicated it began at a McDonald's in the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Olympia Einkaufszentrum, or shopping center, in the northern Moosach district.
Vasiliki Spanouli, 30, who works as a cleaner, said at least one<span style="color: Red;">*</span>gunman began firing on people in the mall without warning.
"We were at the bus station opposite McDonald's outside the Olympia shopping mall and suddenly a man comes out with a gun and starts shooting at everyone," Spanouli said. "I saw people getting shot. I believe it's going to be many more dead than what is reported. People were falling on the ground like chicken."
Munich police said on Facebook that witnesses reported seeing "three different<span style="color: Red;">*</span>gunmen" but it was not clear<span style="color: Red;">*</span>whether they were referring to three separate shooters or the same shooter at three different locations.
[h=4]Posted![/h]A link has been posted to your Facebook feed.
An employee of a drugstore told<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Süddeutsche Zeitung<span style="color: Red;">*</span>that she "heard shots and saw injured."<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Police asked workers to remain in place.
Dozens of police,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>special forces teams and ambulances poured into the area and pushed pedestrians off the streets away from the mall.
Police in Bavaria have been on high alert following the stabbing of five<span style="color: Red;">*</span>people Monday by<span style="color: Red;">*</span>a 17-year-old Afghan wielding an ax and a knife. The incident occurred on a regional train near the Bavarian city of Wuerzburg.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>The attacker was shot and killed by police.
<span style="color: Red;">*</span>German photographer<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Frederic Todenhofer, who lives near the shopping center, said<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the streets of Munich were largely<span style="color: Red;">*</span>abandoned as<span style="color: Red;">*</span>people were crowding into stores and even apartment buildings to get off the streets as quickly as possible.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>“I just went out for a walk with my dog and I didn’t see anyone,” he said.
On social media, Germans used the hashtag<span style="color: Red;">*</span>#offenetür<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Open Door)<span style="color: Red;">*</span>to offer shelter to people<span style="color: Red;">*</span>stuck in public places.
Contributing: Angela Waters in Berlin;<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Nicolia Apostolou in Athens
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