Munich shooting: Police operation underway, reports say multiple deaths in spree

 

A police operation is underway after gunfire erupted Friday at a shopping center in Munich, Germany. German media are reporting six people were killed in the shooting spree. Authorities shut down public transportation and warned people to stay home or seek protection.

• At least one shooter remains on the loose after a shooting inside a McDonald's across from the Olympia shopping mall, police spokeswoman Claudia Küntzel said. "There could be several dead, and one or even several shooters are on the loose," Küntzel said. The shooting at the McDonald's happened around 5:50 p.m. (11:50 a.m. ET), she said. It's unclear whether shootings have occurred at other locations, and whether the gunfire has stopped.

• Gunfire also broke out inside the mall, witnesses said.

• On Facebook, police said gunfire was reported in several locations, and that witnesses report seeing three people with firearms.

• "At the moment, we have not been able to arrest any perpetrators. The manhunt is underway at high speed," police said. "Because of the unclear situation we ask all people in the city area to stay at home or to look for protection in any nearby building. The operation of public transportation service has been stopped."

• Lauraetta Januze told CNN her son was in a bathroom with a shooter at the McDonald's. "That's where he loaded his weapon," she said. "Boom, boom, boom, I heard, and then I saw all the injured. I was back to back with him, I was in the bathroom with my kid, and I only saw him shoot directly into the faces of children."

• Lynn Stein, who said she works at the Jack Wolfskin store in the mall, said she heard six of seven shots inside the mall. "People were very confused, and they were running and they were screaming," she said. She said she saw someone lying on the floor of a store who appeared to be either dead or injured. "There's a woman over them, crying."

• Outside the mall, she said, police ran with large guns and told people to clear the area.

• Thamina Stoll told CNN she was with her grandmother, who lives about three minutes away from the mall: "There were like 50 people running towards our house to seek shelter, and there was a helicopter circling above us for about 20 minutes and sirens. And there's still people walking on the streets, they're confused, and nobody knows what's really going on."

• The shooting comes as recent terror attacks have put Europe on high alert. A truck plowed into a crowd of Bastille Day revelers in Nice, France, last week, killing more than 80 people. This week, a teenager who said he was inspired by ISIS stabbed passengers on a German train before police shot him dead.