German police are investigating findings suggesting a gunman who stalked a fast food restaurant in Munich, killing nine people and himself, may have used Facebook to invite people to the location prior to the shooting.
Key points
- Seven of the nine victims were teenagers, though unclear if youth were targeted
- Police find book on school shootings in gunman's home
- Questions over how shooter obtained gun given strict German laws
"[He] said he would treat them to what they wanted as long as it wasn't too expensive — that was the invitation," Robert Heimberger, president of the Bavarian state criminal agency, told a news conference.
He added that this still needed to be verified, but there were many clues suggesting the attacker had set up the invitation to the McDonald's restaurant and sent it or posted it online.
Europe has 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 in the southern German city 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.
He said there were indications the killer had been bullied "by others his age". He also cited concerns about the role violent video games may have played in the crime.
Asked if the gunman had deliberately targeted young people, Munich police chief Hubertus Andrae said that theory could be neither confirmed or ruled out.
Seven of his victims were themselves teenagers: three were 14 years old, two were 15, one was 17 and one 19. The others were 20 and 45, the police chief said.
The shooter did not own the gun used
Police commandos, with night vision equipment and dogs, raided an apartment in the Munich neighbourhood of Maxvorstadt early on Saturday, where a neighbour said the gunman had lived with his parents for about four years.
In the killer's room, police found a German translation of a book entitled Why Kids Kill: Inside the Minds of School Shooters, by the US academic Peter Langman.
"Based on the searches, there are no indications whatsoever that there is a connection to Islamic State" or to the issue of refugees, Munich police chief Hubertus Andrae told reporters.
"Documents on shooting sprees were found, so the perpetrator obviously researched this subject intensively."
Police will also have to find out how the 18-year-old obtained the firearm in a country whose gun control system is described by the US Library of Congress as being "among the most stringent in Europe".
"The investigation is still trying to determine where it came from," Mr Heimberger said, adding that the assailant was not the registered owner of the gun.
"I am shocked. What happened to the boy? Only God knows what happened," Telfije Dalipi, a 40-year-old Macedonian neighbour, told Reuters.
"I have no idea if he did anything bad elsewhere."
Reuters