A 16-year-old friend of the gunman who shot dead nine people on a murderous rampage in Munich has been arrested by police.
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Robert Heimberger, head of Bavaria’s criminal police, said the gunman had been planning the attack since he paid a visit a year ago to the town of Winnenden – the scene of a school shooting in 2009 – and took photographs.
Mr Steinkraus-Koch said Sonboly spent two months in a closed psychiatric ward in 2015 and received treatment for “social phobias” and anxiety.
Investigators found medication in his room but have so far been unable to ascertain whether he had been taking it on a regular basis.
It was the fifth anniversary of the day Anders Behring Breivik, a right-wing extremist, killed 77 people in Norway.
Of the nine people dead, most were teenagers, who were not personally know to Sonboly.
Gabriel said German authorities were investigating how the German-Iranian dual national had gained access to a weapon despite signs that he had significant psychological issues.
The Munich shootings are one of four attacks across Germany since July 18, which have seen ten people killed and 34 injured.
Police described Sonboly as a “deranged loner” and one theory behind the carnage is that the teenager was seeking revenge after years of bullying.
Heimberger also said the gunman likely purchased his illegal weapon online, through a website trafficking illegal weapons hosted on the dark web.
Weapons are strictly controlled in Germany and police are still trying to determine exactly how the shooter obtained the Glock 17 used in the attack.
Police said the gunman had no link to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant and was mentally troubled and had extensively researched spree killings.
The 18-year-old, born and raised locally, opened fire near a busy shopping mall on Friday evening, triggering a lockdown in the Bavarian state capital.
Police said Sonboly posed as a teenage girl on a fake Facebook account to lure victims to a shopping mall and McDonalds, where he gunned them down.
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The shooter was identified by classmates as Ali Sonboly.
