Manhunt still on for Istanbul nightclub gunman as new clues yield little

ISTANBUL -- New video from the Turkish police shows the gunman, suspected of killing dozens of people in a nightclub, filming himself in Istanbul days before the nightclub attack.

It’s similar to a video that surfaced after the attack on the Berlin Christmas market,where ISIS-linked militants also took selfies.

Turkish police have still not released the gunman’s name, and it’s not clear if they have it yet.

What they do know is that he arrived at the club by taxi, striking at 1:15 in the morning on New Year’s Day. He killed a police officer at the entrance, and barely missed the club’s co-owner, who jumped over a railing.

“When I opened my eyes, he was still there,” said Ali Unal, the co-owner. “I was thinking to jump on him, but he seemed so professional, he had flexibility.”

Inside, the gunman moved methodically, using several ammunition clips, indications he may be an experienced shooter.

The gunman left 39 dead and nearly 70 injured in his wake, many of them tourists.

Police say he left the club in another taxi, heading to an apartment near the airport only to walk casually away. Investigators searched the apartment but turned up nothing.

ISIS sympathizers online are already jubilantly claiming the gunman has escaped back to ISIS territory, possibly across the border to Syria.

Police have now detained 16 people, including two at the airport, who police believe may have helped the killer in his attack.

The Turkish police have taken an unusual approach to handling this investigation; leaking a steady drip of information to friendly local media instead of going on the record. That has allowed them to release crucial photos of the suspect, while giving them deniability if they don’t catch him.