Internet provided key clues in Munich
Social networks were both a curse and a blessing in the deadly shopping mall shooting in Munich, as police sometimes found themselves chasing fictitious leads and false alarms.
The 18-year-old gunman, a German-Iranian named David Ali Sonboly, also used the internet to plan and carry out his crime, in which he killed nine people and wounded 16 others.
Nevertheless, the social networks provided a valuable source of information and solidarity for the city’s frightened population during the long lockdown while the incident was going on.
As soon as the terrifying events started to unfold late on Friday afternoon, Munich’s police were quick to take to Twitter to try to keep the public informed about the confusing and fast-evolving situation.
“We’re working as fast as we can to apprehend the attackers,” they tweeted in German, English and French.
“The suspects are still on the run. Please avoid public places. #munich #gunfire”.
“Unconfirmed reports of more violence and possible #gunfire in the city center. Situation is unclear. Please avoid public areas.”
False alarms
But as social network users began to tweet and re-tweet their own experiences and versions of events, it rapidly became difficult for the police to retain an overview and in some cases differentiate between fact and fiction.
At one point, for example, there were a flurry of reports of another shooting in the city center, on the pedestrianized square called the Stachus not far from the main station.
But those reports turned out to be false.
Another headache for police were eyewitness accounts, photos and videos that were rapidly being uploaded onto the web.
Police were concerned that the attackers — at that point, they erroneously believed there might have been more than one — could track where officers were being deployed and in what numbers, thereby making them easier to evade.
In the end, the police desperately tweeted: “Please don’t take fotos or video of police action in order to avoid any helpful information for the suspects”.