MUNICH: German police said Saturday a gunman who went on a shooting rampage at a busy mall in Munich likely acted alone, and then committed suicide after killing nine people in cold blood.
The third attack on civilians in Europe in barely a week sent panicked shoppers fleeing the Olympia (OEZ) mall as elite police launched a massive operation to track down what had initially been thought to be up to three assailants.
"The perpetrator was an 18-year-old German-Iranian from Munich," police chief Hubertus Andrae told reporters after the rampage.
The shooter had dual citizenship and "no criminal record".
"The motive or explanation for this crime is completely unclear," he added.
However, a police spokesman in the Bavarian capital had said earlier that terrorism was suspected, without revealing any immediate indications of an Islamist link.
Nine people were killed in the shooting that began early Friday evening, with 27 wounded according to the latest official toll.
"There were youths among the dead," Andrae said, adding that some of those injured were children.
The suspected attacker's body was found about one kilometre (0.6 miles) from the mall where the shootings took place, German DPA news agency reported.
"We found a man who killed himself. We assume that he was the only shooter," police said on Twitter.
A video posted on social media appeared to show a man dressed in black walking away from a McDonald's restaurant while firing repeatedly on people as they fled screaming.
Munich's main train station was evacuated and metro and bus transport in the city suspended for several hours while residents were ordered to stay in their homes, leaving the streets largely deserted.
By early Saturday, transport services were running again, Munich police said.
Chancellor Angela Merkel will convene her security council on Saturday to address the deadly rampage in the European economic powerhouse which took in more than one million migrants and refugees last year.
"We are determined to do everything we can so that terror and inhuman violence stand no chance in Germany," her chief of staff Peter Altmaier said.
'Murderous attack'
The spree began before 1600 GMT at the McDonald's and continued on a nearby street before at least one attacker moved into the Olympia centre - which lies not far from the scene of the 1972 Olympics massacre.
Shoppers rushed away from the mall, some carrying children in their arms, as the building was surrounded by armed police and emergency vehicles, while helicopters buzzed overhead.
Europe has been on alert for terrorism in the wake of a string of attacks in neighbouring France and Belgium claimed by the Daesh group.
German President Joachim Gauck said he was "horrified" by the "murderous attack", while Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, who was on a flight to New York when the shooting began, will return to Germany.
US President Barack Obama and French counterpart Francois Hollande voiced staunch support for their close ally.
"Our hearts go out to those who may have been injured. It's still an active situation, and Germany's one of our closest allies, so we are going to pledge all the support that they may need in dealing with these circumstances," Obama said.
"The president of the republic offers his sympathy and support to the German people in this difficult hour," Hollande said, according to a statement from the presidency.
Austria said it had "significantly" tightened security measures in states sharing a border with Germany and put its elite Cobra police force on high alert.
String of attacks
The Munich mall is near the stadium for the 1972 Olympics and the athletes' village which was the site of the hostage-taking and massacre of Israeli athletes by the Palestinian Black September group during the Games.
The shooting coincides with the fifth anniversary of the the massacre of 77 people in Norway by rightwing fanatic Anders Behring Breivik.
It also comes just days after a teenage asylum seeker went on a rampage with an axe and a knife on a regional train on Monday near Wuerzburg, also in Bavaria, injuring five people.
De Maiziere had said the teenager was believed to be a "lone wolf" who appeared to have been "inspired" by IS but was not a member of the jihadist network.
The train rampage triggered calls by politicians in Bavaria to impose an upper limit on the number of refugees coming into Germany - many of them via the southern state.
A record 1.1 million migrants and refugees were let in to Germany last year, with Syrians making up the largest group followed by Afghans.
The mall shooting came just eight days after 31-year-old Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel used a truck to mow down 84 people, including children, in the French Riviera city of Nice.
It was the third major attack on French soil in the past 18 months.
In March, IS claimed suicide bombings at Brussels airport and a city metro station that left 32 people dead.
In May, a mentally unstable 27-year-old man carried out a knife attack on a regional train in Bavaria, killing one person and injuring three others.
AS IT HAPPENED
2.20am:
German radio station Bayerischer Rundfunk said a dead man found near the scene of a fatal shopping centre shooting in Munich on Friday had a red backpack similar to one used by a gunman seen at a McDonald's restaurant where the attack reportedly began.
The broadcaster said police were using a robot to investigate the backpack.
1.40am:
Munich police spokesman says ninth body found about one kilometre from scene of shooting attack.
1.25am:
Germany cannot confirm that the shooting attack in Munich in which at least nine people were killed on Friday was an act of terrorism, Chancellor Angela Merkel's chief of staff said.
"We cannot rule out that it is linked to terrorism but we can't confirm it either, but we are also investigating in this direction," Peter Altmaier said on German television.
1.08am:
Munich newspaper TZ said one of the gunmen that went on a rampage in a shopping mall in the city on Friday may be dead.
"We have received information that is as yet unconfirmed that one of the perpetrators is dead, the area around the body has been closed off because it is not clear if the person has explosives on him," the newspaper said on its website.
Earlier, news magazine Focus cited police sources as saying one of the gunmen had shot himself in the head and died.
Saturday, 12.33am:
The death toll has risen to eight, according to police.
11.47pm:
US President Barack Obama pledged support to Germany in the wake of the deadly shooting rampage in Munich, as officials said they were working to determine if any US citizens were affected.
"Our hearts go out to those who may have been injured. It's still an active situation, and Germany's one of our closest allies, so we are going to pledge all the support that they may need in dealing with these circumstances," he said.
11.28pm:
Munich police confirm at least six people dead, unknown number of casualties.
11.24pm:
German magazine Focus says, without citing sources, that one of the perpetrators killed himself near the shopping centre.
11.14pm:
Munich police spokesman says uncertain number of dead and wounded.
11.01pm:
Munich police warn of "acute terror situation", say three armed suspects are at large.
10.48pm:
Munich police spokesman says witnesses saw three shooters with long rifles.
10.37pm:
Bavarian broadcaster BR says six people dead and many injured, and no additional sites involved.
Police in Munich have told people to stay in their homes or, if outside, to seek shelter indoors while the shopping mall shooting emergency in the German city remains ongoing.
The Munich police Facebook page said witnesses had reported seeing three different gunmen. Those witnesses also said there was shooting in nearby streets as well as inside the Olympia shopping mall.
The UAE embassy in Berlin cautioned citizens that police have called on all citizens not to approach the perimeter of the shopping centre.
تنبيه الى مواطني الدولة في ميونيخ: الشرطة الالمانية تدعو جميع الموطنين الى عدم الاقتراب من محيط مركز التسوق الاولمبي
— UAE Embassy - Berlin (@UAE_Berlin) July 22, 2016
10.06pm:
Police say the attacker or attackers responsible for multiple shooting deaths at a German shopping centre are still at large.
The Bild newspaper reported that a gunman ran through the mall near the Olympic stadium in the southern city of Munich, firing on several people before fleeing in the direction of a nearby metro station.
9.56pm:
BBC World broadcasts what it describes as unverified footage of the attack, which was shared on social media:
Another Shooting in Munich Shopping Mall..praying for everyones safety esp my sister and family 🙏🏻 pic.twitter.com/PN8mjJ0hQB
— Geraldine Santos (@newevrymornin) July 22, 2016
9.28pm:
Munich police spokeswoman says: "We believe we are dealing with a shooting rampage".
Police say they believe more than one shooter is involved, according to Reuters. No one has been taken into custody
9.21pm:
Reports that a gunman may still be on the loose.
Germany's Muencher Abendzeitung reported that up to 15 people were killed in the shooting at a shopping mall in the southern city of Munich.
Munich transportation authorities have halted service on multiple train, tram and bus lines.
9.13pm:
German police confirm multiple deaths.
Employee inside store tells Reuters by phone: "Many shots were fired."
9.07pm:
One German newspaper reports 15 dead, but reports unverified, according to BBC World News.
Emergency vehicles were seen in the streets outside, as passers-by looked on.
8.59pm:
AFP reports one dead, 10 injured.
8.55pm:
German police surrounded a shopping centre in Munich on Friday after shooting erupted, police and the local news agency reported, without saying if there were any victims.
"There is a major police operation under way in the shopping centre," Munich police said on Twitter, without elaborating.
Friday, 8.50pm:
German police reported that shots were fired at a shopping centre in Munich on Friday night.
Local media reported multiple deaths.
