Duke University Student Witnessed Fleeing Munich Shoppers: 'They Were Panicking, Crying'

— -- A Duke University student who witnessed terrified shoppers fleeing the gunman who opened fire at a Munich, Germany, mall Friday, says she feels lucky to be alive.

Nine people were killed, and 21 were injured. Police killed the gunman, an 18-year-old dual German-Iranian citizen. His motive remains unknown.

Thamina Stoll, a senior at Duke interning in Munich for the summer, told ABC11 in Raleigh, North Carolina, she had just returned to her grandmother's apartment when she saw a woman running in the opposite direction of the Olympia-Einkaufszentrum shopping mall screaming that shots had been fired. Then, more people began fleeing the area, running past her grandmother's apartment near the mall.

"They were panicking, they were crying, and screaming," Stoll told ABC11 Friday in an interview via Facetime. "It was just so crazy. A few minutes later I started to hear sirens in the background. A helicopter appeared. Nobody knew what was going on. The sirens just wouldn't stop."

A regular at the mall, Stoll feels lucky to be alive. "Had I decided to go there for a third time, like 10 to 15 minutes earlier, I would have been dead right now," she said.

With public transportation temporarily shut down, it wasn't easy to leave the area quickly, so Stoll offered shelter to two families after the deadly attack.

Even though Stoll was safely ensconced in her grandmother's apartment -- police urged nearby residents to remain indoors -- she remains shell-shocked. "It was just terrifying," she says. "I still feel like I haven't really even processed it."