A woman mourns beside the Olympia shopping center where a shooting took place leaving nine people dead two days ago in Munich, Germany, Sunday, July 24, 2016.
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An 18-year-old German-Iranian gunman opened fire in a crowded shopping mall in Munich on Friday evening, killing 10 people and injuring 27.
Instead of shoppers, kids hanging out or older folks sitting in arm chairs, the mall was empty, except for police and white-clad cleanup crews wiping away traces of a shooting spree that left nine victims dead and an 18-year-old gunman dead from an apparent suicide.
Friday marked the fifth anniversary of the slaughter of 77 people by the right-wing fanatic Anders Breivik in Norway.
It was the first attack to strike Europe’s most powerful and wealthy country since German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to let in over a million asylum seekers from conflict zones such as Afghanistan and Syria previous year.
Peter Langman says young gunmen are often looking for role models, and described the Munich attack as premeditated.
Donald Trump issued two short responses after eight people were killed at a busy mall on Friday in Munich, Germany.
“The suspect had fears of contact with others” and also depression, he said. Munich police spokesman Marcus Martins told The Associated Press police were aware of media reports that a man killed himself as officers closed in, but said there was no confirmation of that.
Hours later, at a midday press conference on Saturday, the police said that the shooter – initially identified only as David S – had researched mass killings and didn’t appear to have any political motivations behind his attack. The others were 20 and 45, the police chief said. They said they had no immediate evidence of an extreme Islamist motive.
Police believed it was an older weapon that had been reassembled, and were still working to establish where the attacker had obtained the 300 rounds of ammunition found in his rucksack.
Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said the shooter had likely hacked a Facebook account and used it to lure victims to the fast-food outlet, where he began his rampage.
People don’t wake up one day and commit mass murder.
Andrae tells a news conference that police have found no indications that anyone other than one shooter was involved.
Police stated there were no links between the attack and any terror group, though security cameras show Sonboly bursting from the bathroom, shooting while yelling “Allahu Akhbar”.
A third victim from Kosovo has been named as Sabina Sulaj.
Following school shootings in Erfurt in 2002 and in Winnendon in 2009, when 16 people were killed on both occasions, legislation was tightened.
It is still unclear exactly what motivated the Munich killer, but one video taken during the attack shows him pacing on a flat roof, shouting “I’m German” at the person filming.
Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said there were several signs he had been suffering from “not insignificant psychological troubles”.
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The mall shooting followed an ax and knife attack on passengers on a train near Wuerzburg-Heidingsfeld Monday. “It’s awful, but I don’t think it will change the city”, says Alexandra, a tall mother of three who has come with her husband and young children to lay a delicate bouquet of daffodils near the mall.
