Europe reacted in shock to the third attack
on the continent in just over a week, after the black-clad gunman went on a
shooting spree at a shopping centre on Friday evening before turning the gun on
himself.
"There is absolutely no link to the
Islamic State," Munich police chief Hubertus Andrae said.
He said the assault was a "classic act
by a deranged person" and described an individual "obsessed"
with mass shootings.
He said German investigators saw an "obvious
link" between Friday's killings and Breivik's massacre of 77 people in a
bomb attack in Oslo and a shooting rampage on the nearby island of Utoya
exactly five years earlier.
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| Anders Breivik |
Most of the victims in Friday's attack were
foreigners.
Munich prosecutor Thomas Steinkraus-Koch said
the 18-year-old German-Iranian student - named as David Ali Sonboly had
suffered depression, while media reports said he had undergone psychiatric
treatment.
The teenager had 300 rounds 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.
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.
Among the nine killed were three Turks, three
Kosovans and a Greek national, according to their foreign ministries.
Most of the casualties were young people aged
15 to 21, with three women among the dead according to Munich police.
Sixteen people were wounded, three of them
critically.
Chancellor Angela Merkel was to convene her
security council on Saturday.
The attack 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.
An amateur video posted on social media
appeared to show a man in black walking away from a McDonald's fast foot outlet
in Munich while firing repeatedly with a handgun as people fled screaming.
A police patrol shot and wounded him but he
managed to escape before police found the body of what they believed was the
"only shooter."
Sonboly is thought to be have been born in
Germany to an Iranian father who worked as a taxi driver and a mother who worked
at a department store.
Neighbour Delfye Dalbi, 40, described him as
"a good person" who "helped, would share the newspapers".
"Not once did I see him angry. I never
heard of him having problems with the police or other neighbours," she
said.
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.
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.
President Joachim Gauck said he was horrified
by the "murderous attack", while US President Barack Obama voiced support for Washington's close ally.
"Our thoughts are with the victims,
their families, and all German people...,Europe stands united,"
said the EU foreign policy
chief Federica Mogherini.
Europe has been on high alert for terrorism
after a string of attacks in neighbouring France and Belgium claimed by IS.
The attack came just four days after a
17-year-old asylum seeker went on a rampage with an axe and a knife on a train
near Wuerzburg, also in Bavaria.
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