‘Deranged’ killer lured victims with offer of free food
THE “deranged loner” who killed nine people in Munich was obsessed with mass shootings and had no terror links, police have revealed.
Ali Sonboly, 18, opened fire on members of the public in a city mall, slaughtering nine people and injuring 27, including many children, before killing himself.
Born and raised in Munich, Sonboly used a 9mm pistol and had 300 rounds of ammunition in his rucksack when he went on what detectives have described as a “classic shooting rampage”.
It has since emerged that Sonboly had threatened to kill pals in the past.
And police chiefs said there was an “obvious” link between the attack and Friday’s fifth anniversary of the mass shooting in Norway carried out by Anders Breivik which killed 77 people.
Reports suggest the teenager had changed his WhatsApp profile picture to one of Breivik.
Munich police investigator Robert Heimberger also said it appeared Sonboly had hacked a Facebook account and lured people to the shopping centre with an offer of free McDonald’s food.
The posting, sent from a young woman’s account, urged people to come to a fast-food outlet in the mall at 4pm, saying: “I’ll give you something if you want, but not too expensive.”
Mr Heimberger said: “It appears it was prepared by the suspect and then sent out.” Police also said there were indications the gunman had been in psychiatric care and treated for depression.
A search of the room in the flat he was living in had revealed documents of
“frenzied attacks”, including a book called Rampage in Head: Why Students Kill.
Police described Sonboly as a “deranged loner” and one theory behind the carnage is that the teenager was seeking revenge after years of bullying.
He was “obsessed” with video games and had threatened to murder friends before telling them “I will kill you all” in a chat room.
A spokesman for the Munich prosecutor, Thomas Steinktaus-Koch, said Sonboly might have been receiving psychiatric care.
“We are assuming he may have suffered from depression,” he said.
“As far as we know he has no criminal record.
“In 2010 and 2012 he was the victim of an attack – on one occasion he was beaten by three young offenders.”
The German-Iranian’s body was found about half a mile from the Olympia shopping mall where the shooting spree took place.
Seven of the dead were teenagers.
Three victims were from Kosovo, three from Turkey and one from Greece.
The killer had no known links to the Islamic State militant group, police said.
A neighbour of Sonboly described him as “very quiet”, adding: “He only ever said hi.
“His whole body language was of somebody who was very shy.”