Share

Young Afghan friend of Munich gunman arrested over possible role in shooting

Nine people were killed and 16 others injured in a shooting attack in southern German city of Munich on Friday evening before the shooter shot himself dead, said Munich police early on Saturday.

Advertisement

“We suspect that this boy aged 16 years could have been aware of the act”, police said in a statement following Friday’s shooting spree after which the 18-year-old German-Iranian attacker, David Ali Sonboly, killed himself.

The Bavarian State Crime Office said he had bought the illegal pistol used in the attack on the internet.

Steinkraus-Koch added police had not found any evidence so far suggesting Sonboly had any political motivation for the attack and he seemed to have chosen his victims at random.

Law enforcement officials piecing together a portrait of the 18-year-old shooter said he was seeing a doctor up to last month for treatment of depression and psychiatric problems that began in 2015 with inpatient hospital care followed by outpatient visits.

Officials said the attack left another 27 people wounded – 10 of them with serious injuries.

Photographs of the German town of Winnenden, the site of a deadly 2009 school shooting, were also found in his camera.

No motive has yet been established for the attack but police have ruled out any connection to recent Islamist militant attacks in Germany and France.

He had a Glock pistol and more than 300 bullets.

Investigators said the teen posted on a fake Facebook page promising meals at the McDonald’s for anyone that showed up at 4 p.m.

“The extent to which the arrested person is responsible for a Facebook call for a meeting in a cinema complex near the Munich main train station, the other criminal investigations are looking into”.

According to German authorities, the teenager did extensive research on mass shootings before carrying out the attack.

Advertisement

Police have been probing claims that the killer felt bullied by his peers and that he may have been inspired by Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik, who killed 77 people exactly five years before the Munich shootings. The victims were as young as 14 years old. German police said the gunman’s parents had been taken in for questioning.

Munich gunman planned mall attack for one year after visiting school shooting site