8 dead in Munich mall shooting; police hunt up to 3 suspects
8 dead in Munich mall shooting; police hunt up to 3 suspects
MUNICH (AP) — Police hunted for an unknown number of gunmen who opened fire in a Munich shopping mall and at a McDonald’s across the street Friday, killing eight people and wounding others in a rampage they described as suspected terrorism. Authorities urged residents to remain inside and put the Bavarian capital on lockdown.
“At the moment no culprit has been arrested,” police in the Bavarian capital said on social media as Germany’s elite GSG9 anti-terror unit and federal police were called in to help in the manhunt. “The search is taking place at high speed.”
Witnesses reported seeing three men with firearms near the Olympia Einkaufszentrum mall.
Police could not say how many people were wounded. Munich police spokesman Marcus Martins said a ninth body had been found and police were “intensively examining” whether it might be one of the suspects. That body was not found in the mall but police did not say exactly where it was.
The city sent a smartphone alert declaring an “emergency situation” and telling people to stay indoors and German rail company Deutsche Bahn stopped train traffic to Munich’s main station.
Convention missteps renew concerns about Trump and governing
CLEVELAND (AP) — Donald Trump followed the script in his big speech to the Republican National Convention. Less than 12 hours later, he was free-form again, Trump being Trump, resurrecting a conspiracy theory linking the father of his chief rival from the primaries to John F. Kennedy’s assassination.
Trump’s plunge into a lengthy litigation of past spats with Ted Cruz — even bringing up his retweet of an unflattering photo of Cruz’s wife, Heidi — did nothing to assuage Republican fears about their standard bearer after a national convention complicated by unforced errors.
The episode raised questions, too, about how he might govern inside the White House, having so far led a scattershot campaign marked by a short temper and a seemingly improvised approach to policymaking.
Presidential candidates typically come out of their conventions looking ahead to the general election and intent on expanding their appeal beyond the partisans who showed up. Trump took a bizarre look backward at what was billed as a post-convention thank you reception Friday for supporters and staff at his Cleveland hotel.
Reviewing one of the ugliest chapters of the nomination contest, Trump mentioned Cruz’s father, saying “All I did was point out the fact that on the cover of the National Enquirer there was a picture of him and crazy Lee Harvey Oswald having breakfast.” There is no evidence linking Rafael Cruz to JFK’s murder.
Turkey criticizes US over cleric accused of coup plot
ISTANBUL (AP) — A top Turkish official on Friday accused the United States of “standing up for savages” by not immediately handing over a U.S.-based Muslim cleric who the government claims orchestrated last week’s failed coup. Speaking in Washington, President Barack Obama said there was a legal process for extradition and encouraged Turkey to present evidence.
In a sign of increasing tension, Turkey said it was dispatching its justice and interior ministers to the United States next week to push for the extradition of the cleric, Fethullah Gulen.
The two NATO countries are allies in the fight against the Islamic State group; American military jets have been flying missions against extremists in Iraq and Syria out of the Turkish air base at Incirlik.
U.S. officials said Friday that electric power was restored to the Incirlik base, which had been operating on a backup generator since July 16, when power was shut off at all military bases in Turkey following the failed coup.
Meanwhile, Turkey’s prime minister, Binali Yildirim, warned that coup plotters still at large might stage attacks, saying there is “a remote chance some madmen might take action, acting out of a sense of revenge and defeat.”
Obama, Mexican president stress importance of relationship
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto reaffirmed the importance of the US-Mexico relationship Friday, promoting the benefits of trade and friendship in an election year that has sometimes stressed that alliance.
In a news conference with Pena Nieto at the White House, Obama said trade with Mexico brings important investment and jobs to the U.S. He said the United States sells more to Mexico than to China, India and Russia combined.
Obama said he has worked to deepen the relationship during his presidency.
“We’re not just strategic and economic partners, we’re also neighbors and we’re friends,” Obama said.
The news conference came the morning after the closing of the Republican National Convention and a speech by GOP nominee Donald Trump, whose demands that Mexico pay for a U.S. border wall and descriptions of Mexican immigrants as criminals and rapists has offended the neighboring country.
Indiana court tosses woman’s feticide conviction
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The Indiana Court of Appeals overturned the feticide conviction of a woman found guilty of killing her premature infant by taking abortion-inducing drugs, saying Friday the state’s law wasn’t intended to be used “to prosecute women for their own abortions.”
The ruling comes in the case of Purvi Patel, who was convicted of neglect and feticide last year. However, the court upheld a lower-level felony neglect of a dependent conviction.
She was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2015, two years after her self-induced abortion at her family’s home. Women’s advocacy groups have been heavily involved in the case, saying it marks the first time a state feticide law was used against a woman because of an alleged self-induced abortion.
The appeals court ruled that Patel, who is currently in state prison on the neglect and feticide convictions, should be resentenced on the lower-level felony charge, which carries a possible prison term of between six months and three years. It wasn’t immediately clear how quickly that resentencing could happen and whether Patel could soon be released from prison.
Stanford University law professor Larry Marshall, who represented Patel during the appeals court hearing in May, said Friday that he was reviewing the court’s 40-page decision and would discuss it with Patel before deciding the next legal steps.