Hands up to show they’re not terrorists
THEIR hands held above their heads and fear in their eyes, shoppers at the Munich shopping mall are marched away to safety after shots were fired in the complex.
Just a few hours earlier they had been enjoying a warm summer’s evening with friends and family after the end of the working week.
As emergency vehicles began to line the streets, shoppers were seen fleeing the scene, some carrying children in their arms.
Others were forced to hide in store rooms and toilets in fear for their lives as a gunman walked through the Olympia shopping centre.
Witnesses told how a man dressed in black and wearing a mask had suddenly burst into the building. Footage filmed later shows him pacing the rooftop of the shopping centre as gunshots rattle through the air.
In the video, filmed by an eyewitness in a building opposite, it is not clear if the man, who then appears to run for shelter, had fired the shots or was being targeted by police.
Shoppers were led from the building under escort after being told to put their hands up presumably to ensure their safety as police marksmen roamed the streets.
Last night the first eyewitness accounts from inside the building were emerging, revealing the sheer terror and chaos of the situation.
One shop worker told of how she was holed up in a storage room.
The unnamed woman said she saw one man bleeding to death as others ran for shelter.
She told Sky News: ‘Many shots were fired. I can’t say how many, but it was a lot. All the people outside came streaming into the store.
‘I only saw one man who was badly shot and did not survive.
‘We are staying in the back storage rooms and have not been approached by the police yet.’
Another shop worker, Lynn Stein, told CNN: ‘I was in a neighbouring store when shots were fired. People started running. More shots were fired. People were screaming.
‘Then I heard several shots at the parking next to the mall. I went back inside to check on my co-workers.
‘When I went there was a couple of people coming in towards me, and I told them to leave as I continued towards my store. A man told me he saw a gunman. I ran outside, and police told me to leave. Which I did. This was about 15 minutes after it happened, and I was evacuated.’
Witness Maximilian Pitts told Sky News: ‘We were next to the Olympic shopping mall and just going up to the Olympic tower having a view over Munich. There was a lot of police and firefighters on the way to get up and then the breaking news came. A lot
‘There were a lot of people inside’
of helicopters are around the area now. BMW headquarters are closed and also the tower. It’s very crazy. We can see a helicopter, more police cars, a lot of emergency cars, no one can get in.
‘I think it was [busy at the time] ... So I think there were a lot of people inside... There is a helicopter crossing over the area and a lot of police cars are racing towards the mall.
‘No cars are moving on the highway. Maybe 500m [have been cleared by police].’
A woman who was inside the shopping centre told CNN how she ran through an emergency exit to escape the sound of gunshots.
She told the broadcaster: ‘I was going to buy something and my coworker was still working and I heard the shots fired – several shots, I don’t know, maybe six or seven – and people were confused, they started running out. And there was an emergency exit right at the shop I was at, so I ran outside as well. And then there were more shots’
Maximilian Bielenfeld told Sky News: ‘Me and my girlfriend were just waiting for a train next to the central station in a restaurant.
‘Then suddenly everyone started to run and cry and heavily armed policemen were passing by.
‘It was complete chaos. We jumped out of the window.’