KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:
At least six people were killed today in a mass shooting outside a shopping center in Munich, Germany. More are injured. Police say they're looking for as many as three shooters, armed with what they described as long guns. The manhunt has shut down traffic and public transit across the city. For more on the situation, we have Stefan Kornelius on the line by Skype. He's with the Munich newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung, and he is in Munich now. Welcome to the program.
STEFAN KORNELIUS: Well, thank you.
MCEVERS: What do you know about what happened today at the Olympia shopping center?
KORNELIUS: Well, the situation is still very vague and very opaque. About five hours, apparently three shooters opened fire across the shopping mall at a fast food restaurant and killed at least six, most likely seven people. They are still on the run. This is a frightening situation. Local traffic was shut down. All public traffic was - was closed in Munich, and the central train station was evacuated. So this city is in a state of emergency. There are hundreds and hundreds of police forces pouring in right now. The manhunt is ongoing, and police are calling people to stay indoors and pretty much not venture on the streets.
MCEVERS: What else are the police saying about the situation? Do they have any information about who these attackers are?
KORNELIUS: No, they don't. And they warn about speculating whether these could be terrorists or not. But, however, if these are three perpetrators and this is confirmed, then this is a coordinated attack. This doesn't look like sort of a rampage. It looks like rather than a terrorist attack, but we - as I said, we should not speculate too much about it. Especially since it is extremely difficult in Germany to get a hold of weapons, it rather looks like something planned and coordinated.
MCEVERS: What else has your newspaper been able to confirm?
KORNELIUS: Sorry, I didn't get that.
MCEVERS: What else has your newspaper been able to confirm at this time?
KORNELIUS: Well, we didn't get any further confirmation. We just got those seven people killed. There are two severely wounded. Our two hospitals have been evacuated to make room for further casualties. And the government has now convened - the (unintelligible) government - in some kind of emergency meetings. The city has kind of a curfew or a kind of special situation, as they call it, which gives police some extra rights. And this is definitely sort of the first major kind of terrorist attack Germany encounters right now. And since this is an ongoing situation, I guess we will have to wait for a while for some word.
MCEVERS: This shooting has come just days after another attacker was shot dead by police after injuring people on a train not too far from Munich. How are people there reacting to this?
KORNELIUS: Well, this is exactly fueling into major concerns, which are now coming all over the country. Terrorist attacks are coming closer. We had Nice just a few weeks ago - actually more than a week ago - and then this axe-wielding incident on Monday evening with four severely wounded. People are frightened. People are worried. And I think it will increase the feeling of insecurity and fear.
MCEVERS: That Stefan Kornelius with the Munich newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung. Thank you very much.
KORNELIUS: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.