MUNICH: First came the crack of gunfire, then panicked screams and the wail of sirens as an armed attacker launched a killing spree in the German city of Munich on Friday.
Residents were going about their shopping at the busy Olympia mall, some eating at a McDonald's restaurant, when the horror began.
Panicked shoppers fled the building as armed anti-terror police flooded the streets in search of what was initially thought to be a group of three assailants but was later believed to be a young lone gunman armed with a handgun.
A police patrol shot and wounded the attacker but he managed to escape.
Authorities later discovered the body of the 18-year-old German-Iranian dead by his own hand just one kilometre (0.6 mile) from the mall.
Nine victims have been confirmed dead, and 16 others were wounded in the burst of violence, according to the latest official toll, as police revised earlier reports of a higher number of wounded.
While the manhunt was still under way police had called on residents of Germany's third-largest city to stay indoors, throwing the economic hub into lockdown.
"Attention -- avoid the neighbourhood around the OEZ (Olympia). Stay in your homes. Leave the street," a Munich police tweet said.
The Bavarian capital's main train station was evacuated and bus, metro and tram services were suspended.
Survivors of the rampage described terrifying scenes.
"We entered McDonald's to eat... then there was panic, and people ran out," one woman told Bavarian public television.
She said she heard three gunshots, "children were crying, people rushed to the exit in panic".
A video posted on social media appeared to show a man dressed in black walking away from a McDonald's while firing repeatedly on a group of people, who screamed as they fled.
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