“The people of Munich have come through a night of horror,” she said in her first reaction to Friday's carnage, adding: “A night like this is difficult for us all to bear.”
Speaking from her office in Berlin, the German leader said: “All of us, and I say this on behalf of the whole government, are mourning with heavy hearts those who will never be able to return to their families.”
She paid tribute to Munich residents who had offered refuge in their homes to people fleeing the gunman, many of them using social media to spread the word.
Their actions showed that “we live in a free society and it showed humanity”, she said, adding that “our greatest strength” lies in these values.
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