Munich Gunman Had Interest in Mass Shootings, No Apparent Islamic State Ties
Authorities find documents relating to shooting sprees in search of attacker’s bedroom
The gunman who killed nine people in a shooting spree in Munich on Friday was believed to have been in psychiatric care and had taken an intense interest in mass shootings, officials said Saturday. Mark Kelly reports. Image: Reuters
By
ANTON TROIANOVSKI in Berlin, and
CHRISTOPHER ALESSI and
WILLIAM WILKES in Munich
Updated July 23, 2016 2:26 p.m. ET
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The gunman who killed
nine people in a shooting spree in Munich on Friday was a high-school student born and raised in the city who was believed to have been in psychiatric care and had taken an intense interest in mass shootings, officials said Saturday.
The gunman was identified by an official as Ali David Sonboly, an 18-year-old German-Iranian dual citizen.
While officials initially
feared terrorism as the shooting unfolded, investigators found no clues pointing to a link to Islamic State or another terror group.
Instead, officials racing to pin down Sonboly’s motivations on Saturday found the shooter had taken a deep interest in gun violence and was apparently being treated for depression. They suggested that Friday’s fifth anniversary of a massacre in Norway could have motivated the attack. As in the Norway massacre, Sonboly may have targeted young people: Of the nine dead victims, seven were teenagers, including three 14-year-olds.
“Documents were found dealing with shooting sprees,” Munich police chief Hubertus Andrä said. “The attacker apparently occupied himself intensively with this.”
Among the documents recovered from Sonboly’s bedroom was a German-language version of the book “Why Kids Kill: Inside the Minds of School Shooters,” according to Robert Heimberger, the head of the state criminal investigations agency.
There were also signs the shooter had targeted foreigners. Of the nine victims, three were Turkish, three were Kosovar and one was Greek.
Sonboly apparently hacked into a young woman’s
Facebook account to lure young victims to the
McDonald’s where the shooting began, officials said. At around 3 p.m. on Friday, a post on her page invited people to come to the restaurant an hour later, saying, “I’ll buy you something if you want but not too expensive.”
“There are many indications that this was set up by the attacker,” Mr. Heimberger said.
Sonboly
opened fire shortly before 6 p.m. Friday in and around a shopping mall, killing nine people and injuring four, before fleeing and setting off a manhunt that lasted several hours as police sought him and possible accomplices. Around 1 a.m., police said he was dead. He killed himself with a single bullet wound to the head, officials said Saturday.
The overnight investigation had made it clear that the shooter, armed with a Glock pistol and more than 300 rounds of ammunition, had acted alone before killing himself, officials said.
Mr. Andrä also said the shooting had “no connection at all to the refugee issue.” Germany has been on edge since a teenage migrant who had registered himself as an
Afghan refugee attacked train passengers with an ax on Monday, injuring five.
In the wake of the attacks, German leaders sought to calm public fears. Friday’s shooting ushered in a night of panic in Munich as false rumors of additional shootings raced over social media.
What We Know About the Shooting in Munich
JOERG KOCH/GETTY IMAGES
The police emergency number received 4,310 calls in the space of six hours Friday night—roughly four times an average day’s total. Authorities had warned, based on witness reports, that additional gunmen may have been on the loose.
“We cannot allow insecurity and fear to win the upper hand over our lives,” Bavarian State Premier Horst Seehofer said Saturday. “We must continue living our lives and living our values.”
German Chancellor
Angela Merkel said Munich had been through “an evening and a night of horror.” She said she understood Germans’ anxiety about their security—both in the wake of the Afghan’s train assault and last week’s
truck attack in Nice, France, that killed 84.
“I can understand anyone who today approaches a crowd of people with trepidation, asking in the back of his head whether he is safe,” Ms. Merkel said. She added: “The state and the security agencies will continue to do everything to protect the freedom and the security of people in Germany.”
Photos: Shooting Rampage in Munich
Munich police said 10 people died and several others were injured in at least one shooting that they suspect is a terror attack late Friday.
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Officials said that Friday’s fifth anniversary of the killing of 77 people by
right-wing extremist Anders Breivik in Norway may have motivated the shooting, noting the apparent targeting of youths in both attacks.
“You don’t have to look into a crystal ball to see there are similarities between the two,” Mr. Andrä said.
A gunman killed multiple people and injured several more at a Munich shopping mall on Friday, in an assault that police described as a terror attack. After hours of searching for potential accomplices, police said the shooting suspect had killed himself and appeared to have acted alone. Photo: Getty Images
Sonboly lived with his family in a well-kept, middle-class neighborhood near the center of Munich. The family has an apartment in a recently built eight-story building facing onto Dachauer Strasse, one of Munich’s busiest streets. In the ground floor is a café-grocery store specializing in American and other foreign products. Next door is a Maserati dealership.
Munich’s main university is nearby, making the area popular with students. Some of the city’s largest museums aren’t far away.
He was a loner who preferred violent videogames such as “Grand Theft Auto” to socializing, according to two young neighbors who said they are very close to his younger brother.
German Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière described the shooter as the German-born son of Iranian parents who came to Germany in the late 1990s as asylum seekers. Documents and social media posts showed he had taken an intense interest in shooting sprees, particularly in the Breivik attack and
a 2009 school shooting in Winnenden, Germany.
The shooter was likely of Shiite Muslim heritage, Mr. de Maizière said, but may have converted to Christianity.
“Clues continue to be examined as to whether he converted to Christianity,” Mr. de Maizière said. “At any rate, his parents say he didn't live a religious life in any religious community.”
Write to Anton Troianovski at
anton.troianovski@wsj.com and Christopher Alessi at
christopher.alessi@wsj.com