Investigators’ findings suggest that 18-year-old Ali Sonboly – who went on a shooting rampage on Friday, ultimately killing nine and injuring 27 – was inspired by the actions of Tim Kretschmer, the gunman who attacked a secondary school in Winnenden, leaving 16 dead.
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Details have begun to emerge about the 18-year-old, who killed nine people and wounded more than 15 in the attack before killing himself.
The investigations will have to show to what extent, if any, he was involved in a Facebook post inviting people to meet at a cinema complex near the main railway station in Munich.
“From documents we have examined thus far, it seems he had been planning his act already since last summer”, said Robert Heimberger, chief investigator at Bavaria’s criminal investigative agency, at a press conference.
Steinkraus-Koch said there is still no evidence of any political motivation to the crime, nor that the shooter killed specific victims.
Sonboly received both inpatient and outpatient psychiatric treatment a year ago to help him deal with “fears of contact with others”, Steinkraus-Koch added.
Police found medication in his home and are trying to determine whether he had been taking it. the shooter had a history of having been bullied by his peers, and in 2012 had been injured in an attack by other young people that had been reported to police.
Police have not named the attacker, but said he had dual German and Iranian nationalities and was born and raised in Munich.
Heimberger said the McDonald’s restaurant where most of the victims died was a hangout for youths of immigrant backgrounds, and the dead included victims of Hungarian, Turkish, Greek, and Kosovo Albanian backgrounds and a stateless person.
Sonboly killed himself after his murderous spree with the 9mm Glock pistol he had bought on the internet.
Friday’s attack was the second one in less than a week in Bavaria that targeted victims at random. His parents were in shock and haven’t yet been interviewed by police.
Heimberger said it was “very likely” the suspect purchased the weapon illegally online.
“When a man and woman have an argument, we assume that we are dealing with a crime of passion”, a local police spokeswoman told DPA. The 16-year-old deleted their chats but authorities were able to retrieve them.
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Officials said Saturday that Sonboly, a German-Iranian student, had a history of mental illness.
