Munich attack: No evidence of links between 'deranged' teenage gunman and IS, police say

Updated

The teen gunman who killed nine people and himself in a rampage in Munich was "deranged", police say, linking his actions to Norwegian far-right mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik rather than Islamic State jihadists.

Key points: Police chief says the attacker was "obsessed" with mass shootings

Investigators suggest link to Norwegian terrorist Anders Breivik

Angela Merkel mourns for victims, vows security is working to ensure public is safe

Most of the victims were foreigners

Europe reacted in shock to the third attack on the continent in just over a week, after a black-clad gunman went on a shooting spree at a shopping mall on Friday evening (local time).

Munich prosecutor Thomas Steinkraus-Koch said the 18-year-old German-Iranian — named as David Ali Sonboly — had suffered depression and reportedly undergone psychiatric treatment.

"There is absolutely no link to the Islamic State," Munich police chief Hubertus Andrae said.

He described the attack as a "classic act by a deranged person" and described an individual "obsessed" with mass shootings.

Mr Andrae added "the link is evident" with Breivik's massacre of 77 people, which took place exactly five years ago.

Most of the victims in Friday's attack were foreigners, including three Turkish nationals, three people from Kosovo and a Greek man.

Twenty-seven people were wounded in the attack, four with shooting injuries and three who are in a critical condition, police said.

Sonboly had 300 rounds of ammunition in a rucksack when he targeted the busy Olympia shopping mall, just minutes away from the flat he shared with his family, according to authorities.

Germany 'mourns with a heavy heart': Merkel

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 as Germany struggled to come to terms with the killings.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was mourning those killed in the shooting attack, while vowing that security services would do everything to ensure the public was safe.

"We are all — and I'm saying this on behalf of the whole federal government — mourning with a heavy heart for those who will never return to their families," Ms Merkel said.

She added: "To the families, the parents and children for whom everything today seems empty and pointless, I say personally and in the name of many, many people in Germany: we share your pain, we're thinking of you and we're suffering with you."

The attack had sent Germany's third largest city into lockdown as police launched a massive operation to track down what had initially been thought to be up to three assailants.

But Mr Andrae later said two others had "absolutely nothing to do" with the attack — and that they were simply fleeing the scene.

The incident occurred four days after an axe rampage on a train in the same German state of Bavaria and eight days after a truck attack in the French Riviera city of Nice that killed 84 people. Both assaults have been linked to jihadism.

Armed with a handgun, the attacker opened fire at a McDonald's restaurant and continued along the street before entering the mall.

A police patrol shot and wounded the gunman but he managed to escape before police found the body of what they believed was the "only shooter".

'We entered McDonald's to eat ... then there was panic'

A video posted on social media appeared to show a man in black walking away from a McDonald's while firing repeatedly on people as they fled screaming.

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.

One man from Western Australia documented his escape from the shooting on video sharing app Snapchat.

"We're in the middle of a f***ing terrorist attack mate," he said to a friend in the video as the pair looked on in disbelief.

Another video appeared to show the gunman on a car park roof exchanging a tirade of insults with a man on a nearby balcony.

"I'm German, I was born here," the assailant replies after the man fired off a volley of swear words, including an offensive term for foreigners.

Munich's main train station was evacuated and metro and bus transport suspended for several hours while residents were ordered to stay inside, leaving the streets largely deserted.

AFP/Reuters

Topics: unrest-conflict-and-war, police, germany

First posted