SUMMER OF TERROR
At least nine people were shot dead in Munich yesterday in what’s become a depressing routine — another terrorist attack on the West.
At least nine people died and 21 were injured Friday when a teenage gunman opened fire on a McDonald’s and a shopping center in Munich — including children gunned down as they ate in the fast-food restaurant, authorities and witnesses said.
Police at first had believed there were multiple attackers, but later discovered the body of an 18-year-old gunman who had shot himself in the head about a halfmile from the massacre, and determined he was the killer and had acted alone.
He was identified only as a dual-citizen German-Iranian who had lived in Munich, Germany’s third-largest city, for more than two years.
He began his killing spree at the fast-food restaurant and then moved across the street to the Olympia Shopping Center, Munich’s largest mall.
A 30-second video shows a man near the fast-food restaurant shooting at a crowd of people on a sidewalk at about 6 p.m. local time. As automatic gunfire erupts, people are seen running for their lives.
Inside, horrified customers saw the cowardly killer set his sights on the most helpless victims.
“Boom! boom! boom! I heard, and then I saw all the injured,” a witness, identified only as Lauretta, told CNN.
“I was in the bathroom with my kid, and I only saw him shoot directly into the faces of children,” said Lauretta, who had also seen the man load his gun.
“The children were sitting to eat. They can’t run.”
She was also sure she heard him shout, “Allahu akbar,” the Arabic phrase for “God is great.”
“I know this because I’m Muslim,” she said. “I hear this and I only cry.” No group had claimed responsibility as of Friday night.
The killer may have lured vic- tims to the McDonald’s with a fake Facebook ad offering free food, Britain’s Daily Mail reported, quoting a police official.
The gunman had not been previously known to cops.
It’s been a bloody summer of ISIS-inspired terrorism across the globe, with attacks in the US, France, Turkey and Bangladesh resulting in at least 200 deaths.
In March, another 35 people, including four Americans, were killed during three coordinated suicide bombings in Belgium.
Germany has been on high alert since Monday, when a 17-year-old refugee armed with an ax and a knife stabbed five people on a train near Wurzburg. The teen, who was shot dead by police, had yelled, “Allahu akbar.”
Authorities Friday shut down the transit system in Munich amid the manhunt. Residents were urged to stay indoors while authorities conducted a search.
A video shows the killer, clad in black, on the shopping center’s rooftop shouting at the person filming him.
A voice that appears to be the shooter’s yells out an obscenity about Turks and says he had been “in treatment,” the Wall Street Journal reported. Later, the same voice yells: “I’m German!”
The killer also complains about being “bullied’’ for seven years . . . “and now I have a to buy a gun to shoot you,’’ the Mail reported.
The man with the camera shouts back “Your head should be cut off.’’
Police confirmed the video is genuine, but would not say what it may have revealed — if anything — about motive.
A witness to the shooting, Luan Zequiri, told German broadcaster n-tv that he heard the McDonald’s attacker yell a slur
' He said " Allahu akbar." I know this because I'm Mulim. I hear this and I only cry.' Lauretta, witness to the attack
against foreigners. “I looked in his direction, and he shot two people on the stairs,” Zequiri said.
Witnesses in the mall recalled a chaotic scene as shoppers ran for their lives. “I heard several shots,” Lynn Stein, who works at an outdoor-wear store, told CNN.
“I was just going to buy something while my co-worker was still in the shop.
“People started running. I went outside as well — more people running outside. I think I heard more shots. Then it sounded like he went to the parking house next to the mall — several shots there,” she continued.
“I saw . . . somebody lying on the floor, presumably dead. I don’t know. Or badly hurt. And there’s a woman over them, crying.”
President Obama pledged his support to Germany.
“Our hearts go out to those who may have been injured,” he said.
“Germany is one of our closest allies, and so we are going to pledge all of the support that they may need in dealing with these circumstances.”
Donald Trump decried the “horrible attacks.” “This cannot continue,” he said in a statement.
“The rise of terrorism threatens the way of life for all civilized people, and we must do everything in our power to keep it from our shores.”
Before the Munich police found the body of the dead suspect, Hillary Clinton tweeted, “We stand with our friends in Germany as they work to bring those responsible to justice.’’
While ISIS didn’t claim responsibility on social media, the terror group’s supporters celebrated it.
“The Islamic state is expanding in Europe,” read one tweet.