Biodun Iginla, BBC News

Biodun Iginla, BBC News

Saturday, July 23, 2016

Munich gunman 'obsessed with mass shootings'


  • 2 hours ago
  •  
  • From the sectionEurope
Media captionThomas Salbey: "I was up here, and I heard shots and people screaming"

by Isabelle Roussel and Biodun Iginla, BBC News, Munich
The 18-year-old gunman who killed nine people in Munich was obsessed with mass shootings but had no known links to the Islamic State group, German police say.
Written material on such attacks was found in his room. Munich's police chief spoke of links to the massacre by Norway's Anders Behring Breivik.
The gunman, who had dual German-Iranian nationality, later killed himself.
His name has not been officially released but he is being named locally as David Ali Sonboly.
He has also been referred to as Ali David Sonboly, or David S.
He had a 9mm Glock pistol and 300 bullets in his rucksack.
Police do not yet know how the weapon was acquired, but said he had no permit for it and the serial number had been obliterated.
They are investigating whether he may have lured his victims through a Facebook invitation to the McDonald's restaurant where he launched his attack on Friday evening.
Media captionMunich Police President Hubertus Andrae says the gunman had no known links to the so-called Islamic State group
People mourn near the site of Friday's shooting in Munich (23/07/2016)Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Image captionThe day after the shooting, people went to the Olympia shopping mall to mourn the victims
People look at the growing collection of flowers and candles for victims of the Munich shooting (23/07/2016)Image copyrightREUTERS
Image captionFlowers and candles were left outside on the pavement
Image copyrightAFP
Image captionOne placard left at the site simply asks Why? in German
The father of Dijamant Zabergja clutches a photo of his son in Munich, 23 JulyImage copyrightAP
Image captionThe father of one young Kosovan victim, Dijamant Zabergja, displayed his son's photo
Friday evening's attack at the Olympia shopping mall also left 27 people injured, including children. Ten of them are critically ill, including a 13-year-old boy, police say.
Seven of the dead were teenagers. Three victims were from Kosovo, three from Turkey and one from Greece.
Police say the Munich-born gunman had been in psychiatric care, receiving treatment for depression.
Media captionAngela Merkel: "We are in deep mourning"
"We are in deep mourning... we share your grief", said Chancellor Angela Merkel after chairing a meeting of the national security council.
Flags are to be flown at half-mast across Germany.
People could be seen laying flowers and lighting candles outside the mall on Saturday. One placard left there simply asked "Why?"

'Obvious' link

Munich police chief Hubertus Andrae said there was an "obvious" link between the new attack and Friday's fifth anniversary of Breivik's attacks in Norway, when he murdered 77 people.
Mr Andrae warned the number of injured could increase if people who had fled the scene came forward.

Anders Behring Breivik

Anders Behring Breivik in court in Skien, Norway, 15 March 2016Image copyrightAFP
He murdered 77 people in Norway on 22 July 2011, killing eight with a bomb in the capital Oslo before shooting dead 69 at a summer camp for young centre-left political activists on the island of Utoeya.
Now 37, he is held in solitary confinement in Norway after being sentenced to 21 years in 2012. He recently won an appeal against the tough regime of his incarceration.
He harboured radical right-wing views and said his attack was aimed at stopping Muslim immigration to Europe.

First reports of the shooting came in just before 18:00 (16:00 GMT) on Friday.
Witnesses say the attacker opened fire on members of the public in Hanauer Street before moving on to the mall.
A grainy video appears to show a man firing a gun outside McDonald's as people flee.
Another video shows the gunman walking around alone on a flat roof before again opening fire. He can be heard shouting at the person filming, saying at one point, "I'm German".
Witness Luan Zeqiri, who was in the shopping centre, told German broadcaster N-TV the attacker had been wearing military-style boots and a backpack.
"I looked in his direction and he shot two people on the stairs," he said.
Mr Zeqiri said he hid in a shop, but when he left, he saw dead and wounded people on the ground.
German police at an apartment block in Munich, 23 JulyImage copyrightREUTERS
Image captionPolice searched the killer's room in a Munich apartment block overnight
Police at the scene of the shooting in Munich, 22 JulyImage copyrightAP
Image captionArmed police flooded the area around the mall after the shooting
Police said the gunman's body was found about 1km (half a mile) from the mall.
His parents had come to Germany in the late 1990s as asylum seekers, Interior Minister Thomas De Maiziere said.
Police have ruled out any connection to the self-styled Islamic State (IS) group.
Fears of a new IS attack had been high just four days after a teenage Afghan asylum seeker stabbed and injured five people on a train in Bavaria before being shot dead by police.
Claiming the attack, IS later released a video showing the 17-year-old brandishing a knife and making threats.

Were you in or near Munich's Olympia Mall at the time of the attack? Did you witness the shooting? If you are willing to share your story please emailhaveyoursay@bbc.co.uk
Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways. Please only contact us if it is safe for you to do so.
Or use the form below:
Your contact details
If you are happy to be contacted by a BBC journalist please leave a telephone number that we can contact you on. In some cases a selection of your comments will be published, displaying your name as you provide it and location, unless you state otherwise. Your contact details will never be published. When sending us pictures, video or eyewitness accounts at no time should you endanger yourself or others, take any unnecessary risks or infringe any laws. Please ensure you have read the terms and conditions.

More on this story

No comments:

Post a Comment