The Slatest

German Officials Say Munich Attack Was a “Classic Shooting Rampage;” Rule Out Terror Links

A family lights candles to commemorate victims at the entrance of the subway station near the shopping mall Olympia Einkaufzentrum OEZ in Munich, July 23, 2016.

Christof Stache/AFP/Getty Images

German police have labeled the deadly attack in Munich Friday a “classic shooting rampage,” but have all but ruled out terrorism links as motivation for the shooting spree outside the Olympia-Einkaufszentrum shopping mall. The 18-year-old German shooter of Iranian descent killed nine people, most of them teenagers, and injured 27 others before taking his own life. He was found dead with 300 bullets in his backpack along with a pistol.

The teenage gunman was indentified as Ali Sonboly and appeared to suffer from mental health issues, according to German authorities. The attack was premeditated, as the young man sent Facebook messages from a young woman’s account attempting to lure people to McDonald’s Friday afternoon. At around 6 p.m. Sonboly opened fire at the fast-food restaurant.

During a search of Sonboly’s room, police found a book about school shootings called Why Kids Kill: Inside the Minds of School Shooters. The shooting took place five years to the day of Anders Breivik mass shooting in Norway. Also, according to ABC News, “the shopping mall where the shooting took place is located in what was the Olympic Village for the 1972 Munich Olympics, during which 11 Israeli athletes were taken hostage and killed along with a German policeman.” Police say Sonboly had undergone psychiatric treatment in the past; classmates told the Guardian Sonboly was bullied in school.

The shooting played out over more than three terrifying hours in the Bavarian city; the city’s public transport system was shut down as police tried to identify the attacker. Sonboly’s body was found around 9:30 p.m. The country was already on high alert after an axe attack on a train earlier this week.