Munich gunman fixated on mass killing – Killer of 9 not linked to DAESH

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MUNICH, Germany, July 23, (Agencies): The teenager who shot dead nine people in a gun rampage in Munich was “obsessed” with mass killers like Norwegian rightwing fanatic Anders Behring Breivik and had no links to the Islamic State group, police said Saturday.

Europe reacted in shock to the third attack on the continent in just over a week, after 18-year-old David Ali Sonboly went on a shooting spree at a shopping centre on Friday evening before turning the gun on himself. Officials said Sonboly, a German-Iranian student, had a history of mental illness.

Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said the teenager had likely hacked a girl’s Facebook account and used it to lure victims to the McDonald’s outlet where he began his rampage. “There is absolutely no link to the Islamic State,” Munich police chief Hubertus Andrae said, describing the assault as a “classic act by a deranged person”. Investigators see an “obvious link” between Friday’s killings and Breivik’s massacre of 77 people in Norway exactly five years earlier, Andrae added.

Chancellor Angela Merkel, in her first reaction to the carnage, said Munich had suffered a “night of horror”. Most of the victims in Friday’s attack were young people, with three aged just 14, police said. Prosecutor Thomas Steinkraus- Koch said Sonboly had suffered depression, while media reports said he had undergone psychiatric treatment. The teenager had 300 rounds of ammunition in a rucksack when he targeted the busy Olympia shopping mall, just minutes away from the fl at he shared with his family, according to authorities.

Meanwhile, all Kuwaiti citizens in Munich are safe and sound, the country’s Ambassador to Germany Munther Al-Essa said on Saturday, a day after the city of Munich bore witness to a shooting rampage that killed 10 people and wounded 16 others.

“After consulting with the German authorities, we can verify that no Kuwaitis were amongst the fatalities of this criminal attack,” Al- Essa said in a statement to KUNA. “We remain in contact with the authorities to ensure the safety of our citizens,” he added.

The Kuwaiti diplomat deplored the “criminal” attack, as he wished a speedy recovery for those wounded. Grieving Munich residents laid roses and lit candles in memory of the victims, with one placard bearing the simple plea: “Why?” “Bloodbath in Munich,” was the headline on the best-selling Bild newspaper. Sixteen people were wounded in the attack, three of them critically.

An amateur video posted on social media appeared to show a man in black walking away from the McDonald’s restaurant while firing repeatedly with a handgun as people fl ed screaming. A police patrol shot and wounded Sonboly but he escaped before police found his body, after an operation to track down what had initially been thought to be up to three attackers.

Neighbours said Sonboly was born to Iranian parents, a taxi driver father and a mother who worked at a department store. They lived in the well-heeled Maxvorstadt neighbourhood in a tidy social housing block popular with immigrant families. Neighbour Delfye Dalbi, 40, described him as a helpful young man who was “never bitter or angry”, though others remembered a quiet loner. “All his body language said ‘I don’t want to talk to you,’” said Stephan, a waiter at the cafe on the ground floor of the housing block. A police source cited by DPA news agency said Sonboly loved playing violent video games and was an admirer of the 17-year-old German who shot dead 15 people at his school near Stuttgart in 2009.

Survivors described terrifying scenes as shoppers rushed from the area, some carrying children in their arms. “We entered McDonald’s to eat … then there was panic, and people ran out,” one woman told Bavarian television. Another video appeared to show the gunman on a car park roof in a heated exchange with a man on a nearby balcony. “I’m German, I was born here,” the assailant replied after the man fired off a volley of swear words, including an insulting term for foreigners.

De Maiziere told reporters that Sonboly had likely used a hacked Facebook account to lure people to the McDonalds branch, “offering them special reductions”. “I will give you whatever you want, for not a lot of money,” the online invite read, according to German media reports.

The casualties were mostly young, with three aged just 14 and two aged 15. Most of the victims in Friday’s attack were foreigners, including three Turkish nationals, three people from Kosovo and a Greek.

US President Barack Obama voiced staunch support for Washington’s close ally Germany, while EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said: “Europe stands united.” Europe has been on high alert for terrorism after a string of attacks in neighbouring France and Belgium claimed by IS.

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