MUNICH MASSACRE
Police: Lone gunman kills 9 in shooting spree at German mall before turning gun on himself
Police declared an “acute terrorist situation” Friday in Munich and shut down traffic and rail service in the southern German city after a gunman went on a shooting rampage at a shopping mall, killing at least nine people.
Police said a 10th body was found at the scene of the attack. A body found near the scene was that of the shooter and he appeared to have acted alone, officials told the Associated Press and Reuters.
Witnesses had reported seeing three men with firearms near the Olympia Einkaufszentrum mall, but police said on Twitter that “as part of our manhunt
President Obama dismissed Donald Trump’s criticism of conditions in the United States on Friday, saying crime is actually down, the economy is up and most Americans believe things are going relatively well.
“This idea that America is somehow on the verge of collapse — this vision of violence and chaos everywhere — doesn’t really jibe with the experience of most people,” Obama said the day after Trump painted a dark picture of the U. S. in formally accepting the Republican presidential nomination.
“We’re not going to make good decisions based on fears that don’t have a basis in fact,” Obama later said as he repeatedly weighed in on the race to be his successor. “That, I think, is something that I hope all Americans pay attention to.”
The president, who will speak at next week’s Democratic convention on behalf of party candidate Hillary Clinton, said he would “let the American people judge” how well Trump and the Republicans made their case at this week’s GOP conclave.
Obama spoke at a joint news conference with President Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico, a meeting that invited questions about the Republican candidate who has criticized Mexican trade poli- cies, accused it of sending “rapists” to the U. S. and proposed building a wall along the U. S. southern border.
Nieto — who in the past has likened Trump’s rhetoric to Hitler or Mussolini — declined to discuss the U. S. presidential race on Friday, saying he respects both Trump and Clinton. Nieto said Mexico will work with the election winner in a “constructive manner” after November.
“The Mexican government will be observing with great interest the electoral process,” Nieto said, “but it will not get involved in said process.”
Obama, citing the “heated rhetoric” from Trump about immigration and trade with Mexico, said the U. S. “values tremendously” the relationship with its southern neighbor and both countries benefit from it.
“Mexico is a critical partner and is critically important to our own well- being,” he said.
Throughout his campaign, Trump has listed Mexico as among those countries that have “stolen” jobs from the U. S. via free- trade agreements. He also says Mexico migrants undercut U. S. wages by taking American jobs. In his speech accepting the GOP presidential nomination, Trump blamed the Obama administration — and Clinton, the former secretary of State — for problems ranging from crime and attacks on police to “bad” trade deals and Islamic State terrorism. Their convention took place “at a moment of crisis for our nation,” the nominee told Republican delegates. The country is wracked by high crime rates and an economy in which too many people have given up looking for work, Trump said. He accused the government of selling out citizens through self- dealing and bad trade deals with other countries. “Nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it,” Trump said. In a reference to Mexico, Trump said that “we are going to build a great border wall to stop illegal immigration, to stop the gangs and the violence and to stop the drugs from pouring into our communities!” Obama said Trump mangled crime statistics and the nation is much safer than it has been in years past.