A teen gunman who killed nine people in a rampage in Munich was “deranged”, police said Saturday, linking his actions to Norwegian far-right mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik rather than the militant Islamic State (IS) group.
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 mall on Friday evening before committing suicide.
“There is absolutely no link to the IS,” Munich police chief Hubertus Andrae said.
He describing the attack as a “classic act by a deranged person” and described an individual “obsessed” with mass shootings.
Andrae added: “The link is evident” with Breivik’s massacre of 77 people, which took place exactly five years ago to the day.
Munich prosecutor Thomas Steinkraus-Koch said the 18-year-old German-Iranian — whose name has been withheld for the time being — had suffered depression and reportedly undergone psychiatric treatment.
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.
The attack had 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.
