[Wolf Blitzer, Cnn Anchor:] Happening now, breaking news: terror at the mall. A deadly shooting spree at a popular shopping center believed to be a terror attack. Multiple shooters are believed to be on the loose. Residents are being urged to stay indoors, as an intense manhunt unfolds. Did the killers target children? Trump's tricks. Fresh from a rousing and focused speech at the Republican Convention, Donald Trump returns to his more familiar campaign style. He lashes out at Ted Cruz and says he can keep his endorsement. Was the convention a turning point for Trump or a one- off? Announcement delayed? Hillary Clinton is considering postponing unveiling her pick for vice president in the wake of the latest terror attack, the Democratic Convention just days away. Who has she chosen and when will she reveal her running mate? We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in
[The Situation Room. Announcer:] This is CNN breaking news.
[Blitzer:] We're following the breaking news. At least nine people dead in a shooting at a mall in Munich, Germany. Police say a gunman may be among them. This is being treated as a terror attack. And right now police are searching the entire city and the area for multiple suspects. The city is on virtual lockdown and people are being warned to seek shelter and stay indoors as the manhunt for the killers unfold. Donald Trump has just put out a statement saying the rise of terrorism threatens the way of life for all civilized people and we must everything in our power to keep it from our shores. Trump vowed of a terror threat in his speech at the Republican Convention, vowing to restore law and order, saying he alone can keep the country safe. And Hillary Clinton's campaign is watching the situation unfold right now in Munich. But an aide tells CNN it has not yet changed plans to reveal her pick for vice president, expected at any time. We're covering the breaking news this hour with our guests, including retired U.S. Army General Wesley Clark. And our correspondents, expert analysts are also standing by. Let's begin with the manhunt unfolding in Munich right now after that deadly shooting spree. Our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, is working the story for us. Barbara, you're learning new information.
[Barbara Starr, Cnn Pentagon Correspondent:] Wolf, tonight, at this hour, authorities have no real idea who carried out the attack and what their motivation may be. As they look for additional intelligence, this major European city on edge. The killings have shut the city down. And in the meantime, the U.S. Embassy warning Americans in Munich, Germany, to take cover and to stay indoors. And the U.S. military doing a head count for all of its personnel across Europe, trying to make sure no one is in Munich and in danger.
[Starr:] Covered bodies outside the Munich shopping mall. Already, German police have made one determination.
[Unidentified Male:] This is a terrorism situation.
[Starr:] But who is responsible is not clear, ISIS, right- wing extremists or others. Authorities brought much of the city to a halt and continued a manhunt into the evening hours.
[Unidentified Male:] We believe there are three perpetrators. We have contradicting information, but up to three.
[Starr:] Shooting broke out initially at a McDonald's at the popular Munich mall. Dozens of people fled, terrified eyewitnesses offering what information they could.
[Unidentified Male:] I went to the one of the exits and I looked in his direction and then he shot at two people near the stairs. And I ran away.
[Starr:] Some saying the gunman aimed at children.
[Unidentified Female:] The children were sitting to eat. They can't run. I hear this Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar. This, I know because I'm Muslim too.
[Starr:] German police quickly began to assemble, warning people to stay off the streets amid the confusion of the early hours with little intelligence about what was happening. U.S. officials were awaiting an assessment from German law enforcement and intelligence services. So far, there is no credible claim of responsibility. However, one U.S. official says there has been concern for months about potential ISIS activity across Europe, attacks either inspired by ISIS or directed by operatives back in Syria and Iraq.
[Barack Obama, President Of The United States:] It's still an active situation, and Germany's one of our closest allies, so we are going to pledge all the support that they may need in dealing with these circumstances.
[Starr:] At this hour, it has to be said again there's no clear understanding of who or what group or individuals may have been behind this attack. But the U.S. government remains extremely concerned, we're told, about ISIS activity in Europe. CIA Director John Brennan has been warning for weeks that ISIS may be trying to send operatives into Europe to carry out attacks. Not clear again if that's what happened in Munich Wolf.
[Blitzer:] All right, Barbara, thank you. Brian Todd is also working the story for us. Brian is here. Brian, we're hearing some chilling descriptions from eyewitnesses.
[Brian Todd, Cnn Correspondent:] Really riveting witness account from a woman we reached earlier, Wolf. What we can tell you right now is in the latest Twitter post, the Munich police said they're bringing in special forces from Bavaria and surrounding federal states as reinforcements. They are also tweeting public transportation remains disrupted. Right now, it's about midnight in Munich. We're getting just these stirring accounts from witnesses tonight. One woman who we reached on the phone from a store right next door to the McDonald's near the mall said she was inside the McDonald's there that you see just a couple of inches away from the shooter. It appears to be the same shooter seen in this video shooting people outside of McDonald's. We're only calling this woman by her name, Loretta, out of concern for her safety. My producer Dugald McConnell, who speaks fluent German, reached her this afternoon. Loretta says the shooter had her back turned had his back turned to her or she believes she would be dead right now. She was waiting for her 8-year-old son outside the men's bathroom. She said her son saw the man loading his gun inside the bathroom. She says he came out of the bathroom and started targeting children. She also gives an account of what that man said.
[Unidentified Female:] I hear this Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar. This, I know because I'm Muslim too. I hear this and I only cry, screaming and take my children and go out.
[Todd:] Now, Loretta got to a windowless store next to the McDonald's, she says. And that's where we caught up with her a short time ago. She hid there with her two children ages 8 and 11, Wolf, a harrowing experience for this woman.
[Blitzer:] Any indication where the terrorists might be right now?
[Todd:] Police say they assume the attackers are still in Munich, Wolf. They're conducting a citywide manhunt tonight. They have stopped all train and subway service. They are asking drivers to clear the highways. But police do say they have had alerts in other areas, Wolf. This remains a very, very fluid situation. And as we said, it's right now just after midnight in Munich. The cover of darkness, late at night. You don't know who is out there. People are asked to stay in their homes, stay in shelters, but it's a huge city. And it's late at night.
[Blitzer:] Shelter in place. That's what they're telling everyone in Munich right now. Brian, thank you very much. Let's get some more on the breaking news. Retired U.S. Army General Wesley Clark, a former NATO supreme allied commander, former Democratic presidential candidate, is joining us now. General, thanks very much for joining us. These gunmen reportedly still on the run. Munich police are saying it looks like a terror attack. How dangerous is this situation right now?
[Wesley Clark, Former Nato Supreme Allied Commander:] I think it's more dangerous than one could anticipate because normally these people self-destruct. And that's bad if people are nearby, but in this case maybe they're not. Maybe they have decided to try to hit another target. This was a pattern in San Bernardino, you may remember. The gunmen got away and then they were caught. These people could be miles away. They could be in a different community. They could be hiding with accomplices. This is a really critical period of time. I hope the German intelligence authorities really do have complete electronic coverage of this area. They need to be looking at social media. They need to be looking obviously at cell phone transmissions and everything else to try to determine who was communicating with whom at this time and where they are now. And it can be done.
[Blitzer:] I assume, General, you spent a lot of time in Germany. You were the NATO supreme allied commander. You know your counterparts, the German counterparts. They are very good in this kind of stuff, aren't they?
[Clark:] They're terrific. The German authorities are very, very confident. They are very well-equipped. They do have a standard of information sharing and information collection, and whether they have gone far enough and enough intrusiveness to be able to really identify people and have the kind of electronic coverage of cell phones they need, I assume they have, but who knows. We're going to find out, I think.
[Blitzer:] The shooting took place at this McDonald's right at this major shopping mall in Munich. Do you believe that Americans might have been targeted? State Department now warning all U.S. citizens in Munich to shelter in place just like the German government, the Munich police are warning everyone in Munich to shelter in place.
[Clark:] Even if Americans weren't specifically targeted, McDonald's is a symbol of America. So, it could serve a dual purpose. You can hit a symbol of America. You can kill children if that's who he was targeting. And you can create even more havoc. What we haven't seen yet in the news media, Wolf, is why do German authorities believe there might be three shooters? That's what we haven't seen. And maybe there's some information coming on that.
[Blitzer:] That's because eyewitnesses have described three individuals, three shooters who look different, were at different locations. That's why they are suggesting, General, there may be three shooters. There are nine bodies they found at that mall. They think one of them possibly could be one of the shooters. But that's why this manhunt is still under way, because eyewitnesses have given various accounts of who the shooters might be. There is pattern though unfolding. If in fact it's ISIS we don't know if it's ISIS or al Qaeda. You don't know. It might be right- wing terrorists who are opposed to all the Muslim immigrants who are coming to Germany right now, whether from Syria or Libya or Iraq. But there's clearly a heightened state of alert in Europe right now. That's totally understandable, right?
[Clark:] That's exactly right. And there should be, because we know the cells that were in France and Belgium were also in Germany. There were connections to some of these people. Some have been arrested. And we have to look at every one of these tragedies as also an opportunity to go back and roll up networks. And so police and the military have got to move very, very quickly on this. And obviously any information that the United States can share, electronic or otherwise, we will obviously be doing that to help our German friends. But there's Austria nearby, there's Italy nearby, there's Switzerland nearby. Everybody has to be working this.
[Blitzer:] Germany has been on a heightened state of alert since Monday when an Afghan refugee in Germany, a 17-year-old, started stabbing people on a train with an axe, screaming out Allahu akbar throughout, claiming he was ISIS-inspired. ISIS later claiming responsibility for the attack. The fear right now is what just happened at the shopping mall could be connected. Do you believe it possibly could be connected?
[Clark:] I believe it's probably ISIS-inspired and it may be ISIS- directed. We will know more as we look at the behavior of the gunmen. But typically the ISIS people who have been inspired have not survived the incident. This sounds like something different. It sounds like a more determined effort to sow confusion and create havoc in Germany and maybe elsewhere, so new tactic.
[Blitzer:] General Clark, stand by. We have more to discuss. There's other information coming into THE SITUATION ROOM right now. Much more with the former NATO supreme allied commander right after this.