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Munich Killer Was Troubled, but Had No Terrorist Ties, Germany Says Munich Killer Was Troubled, but Had No Terrorist Ties, Germany Says
(about 3 hours later)
MUNICH — The 18-year-old man who killed nine people and injured 27 others in a shooting rampage in Munich on Friday evening had material at home indicating a fixation with violent attacks, but he had no apparent links to the Islamic State or any other organized groups, the German authorities said Saturday. MUNICH — He had been bullied at more than one school. He played violent video games, and developed a fascination with mass shootings. He kept a copy of the German edition of “Why Kids Kill: Inside the Minds of School Shooters,” a study by an American academic psychologist, and he was treated for psychiatric problems.
Sketching out an initial profile of the killer, the police and prosecutors said there was no evidence that his rampage, at a McDonald’s and a nearby shopping mall, had been driven by religion or immigration, issues that have been contentious in Germany and across Europe. Somewhere along the way, Ali Sonboly got his hands on a 9-millimeter Glock handgun, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition for it. And at 5:52 p.m. on Friday, at a McDonald’s in Munich a few miles from where he lived with his mother, father and brother, he started shooting.
They said a search of his home found newspaper articles on police responses to other shooting rampages, as well as the German edition of “Why Kids Kill: Inside the Minds of School Shooters,” a study by an American academic psychologist. Mr. Sonboly, 18, moved on to a shopping mall across the street, then to the top level of an adjacent parking garage. By the time his rampage was done, he had killed eight other young people, one middle-aged person and himself.
The gunman, who was born and raised in Munich and held dual German and Iranian citizenship, killed himself with a single shot to the head, several hours after the attack began. He had a 9-millimeter Glock and a backpack with 300 rounds of ammunition in it. He had no criminal record, and turned up in police records in 2010 and 2012 only as a victim — once having been bullied by three other young people and once having been robbed. He had been treated for depression. It was the third mass attack in Europe in little over a week, after the killings of 84 people in Nice, France, and an attack by a young refugee wielding an ax and a knife in Germany that left five people wounded.
The authorities did not release his name, but he was identified by neighbors as Ali Sonboly, a student at a nearby public school. Some news reports identified him as David Ali Sonboly or Ali David Sonboly. But unlike those two attacks, the one in Munich appeared, based on initial evidence, to have no overt links to the Islamic State or other terrorist groups, officials said Saturday. Nor did it seem to be directly linked to the wave of migration that has fueled racial, ethnic and religious tensions in Germany and across Europe.
The nine people who died were mostly young: Three were 14 years old, two were 15, and the others were 17, 19, 20 and 45. Three of the nine were female. All lived in the Munich area. Of the 27 people injured, 10 were in critical condition, including a 13-year-old boy. Instead, according to accounts by the police, prosecutors, and neighbors and schoolmates of Mr. Sonboly, this most recent assault appeared to be of a less ideological and more personal sort: a sudden, violent outlet for a quietly troubled young man.
The police were looking into reports that the gunman had hacked a Facebook account and promised food at an especially low price to lure people to the McDonald’s shortly before the first shootings. They were also investigating whether the gunman had targeted young people. There were indications that Mr. Sonboly’s rampage might not have been entirely without political overtones. It was carried out on the fifth anniversary of a massacre in Norway by Anders Behring Breivik, a right-wing extremist who killed 77 people. Asked about a possible link based on the date, the Munich police chief, Hubertus Andrä, said that “this connection is obvious” and was part of their investigation.
Chancellor Angela Merkel, after meeting with top officials in Berlin, told the nation that the “night of horror” was traumatic for a Europe already reeling from attacks this month in Nice, France, and Würzburg, Germany. “We must assume that he was aware of this attack,” Chief Andrä said.
“We are in deep and profound mourning for those who will never return to their families — the families, the siblings, the friends for whom everything will be void and empty today,” she said. But the initial picture of Mr. Sonboly that emerged in the hours after police officers found him dead, less than a mile from the shopping mall with a backpack full of ammunition and a single bullet wound to his head, was of a young man whose concerns were much closer to home.
She said many Germans were understandably asking, “Am I secure? Am I safe?” when in public spaces, but she praised Germany’s security forces as “phenomenal” and said the cooperation between federal and Bavarian security forces was “seamless.” Munich, Germany’s third-largest city, is the capital of the southern state of Bavaria. Born and raised in Munich, he held both German and Iranian citizenship. His parents emigrated to Germany, and his father drives a cab. A student at a nearby public school, he was known to adult neighbors as a polite boy who delivered newspapers. He grew up in a secular household, neighbors said, and the family took pleasure in celebrations like birthdays and the Iranian New Year.
The attack occurred on the fifth anniversary of a massacre in Norway by Anders Behring Breivik, a right-wing extremist who killed 77 people in a bombing and shooting rampage. Asked about a possible link, the Munich police chief, Hubertus Andrä, said that “this connection is obvious” and was part of the investigation. “We must assume that he was aware of this attack,” Chief Andrä said. Some news reports identified him as David Ali Sonboly, though he was known to everyone as Ali.
The serial number of the Glock had been scratched off, complicating the authorities’ ability to trace the firearm, said Robert Heimberger, the chief of the Bavarian State Criminal Police, at a late morning news conference. The teenager did not have a license to own a gun. “He was always friendly, very friendly,” said Tovaiau Edo, 32, who lives in the family’s apartment building. “When I saw him and saw the story, it’s like two different people. Not the same people. I cannot believe this.”
Around 3:30 a.m., the authorities raided a building where the teenager lived with his parents and younger brother, in the Maxvorstadt neighborhood, which includes some of the city’s renowned art museums and is adjacent to the city’s historic center. They removed computer equipment, documents and other materials. But officials and neighbors said Saturday that Mr. Sonboly had been struggling on several levels. He had two previous encounters with the police, both times as a victim, once having been bullied by three other young people and once having been robbed. He spent considerable time playing violent online video games. He had been getting psychiatric treatment, possibly for depression, officials said.
The family lives in a fifth-floor apartment, and the gunman’s father drives a taxi, neighbors said. “He was always nice, kind, helpful,” said a 14-year-old neighbor who attended the same school on Alfons Street as the attacker and asked to to be identified only by her first name, Safete. “He was polite and friendly.” “He was always nice, kind, helpful,” said a 14-year-old neighbor who attended the same school on Alfons Street as the attacker and asked to to be identified only by her first name, Safete.
Safete said that she had seen the attacker at their apartment building around midday on Friday and that “he didn’t greet me, like he normally does.”Safete said that she had seen the attacker at their apartment building around midday on Friday and that “he didn’t greet me, like he normally does.”
“He was focused on the papers he was holding,” she added. “He didn’t look up.”“He was focused on the papers he was holding,” she added. “He didn’t look up.”
Safete said the gunman had argued at one point with a schoolmate, “and said that he was going to go on a shooting rampage,” but added that she could not remember the name of the schoolmate or the date of the altercation. Safete said the gunman had argued at one point with a schoolmate, “and said that he was going to go on a shooting rampage.” She added that she could not remember the name of the schoolmate, or the date of the altercation.
Safete’s 15-year-old cousin, who gave her name as Majlinda and attends the same school, said the gunman had been bullied at his current school and a former one. “This has nothing to do with Islam,” she said. “It’s because he was bullied.” Safete’s 15-year-old cousin, who gave her name as Majlinda and attends the same school, said the gunman had been bullied at his current school and a former one.
The gunman opened fire around 5:50 p.m. on Friday at the McDonald’s — the shooting was captured on a video that has been circulated online — in the Moosach neighborhood, about four miles northwest of the city center. He then crossed the street into the Olympia Shopping Center and continued firing; most of the victims were found there. “This has nothing to do with Islam,” she said. “It’s because he was bullied.”
The gunman then made his way onto the roof of an adjacent parking garage. There, he engaged in a shouting match with one or more people at a distance, with the expletive-filled exchange recorded on video. One of the bystanders fumed at “Turks,” and the gunman replied, “I am German,” “I was born here,” and “I grew up here in a Hartz IV area,” a reference to a tier of unemployment and welfare benefit — meaning that he was from the bottom rung of society. A woman in a neighboring building, whose balcony faced the Sonboly family’s balcony, said she and her 10-year-old son had become friendly with Ali. But the woman, who asked to be identified only by her first name, Paulina, said she and her son had both noticed something off about him.
Munich, which had been put under a state of emergency after the shooting started on Friday, began to return to normal on Saturday, although several parts of the city remained cordoned off. Public transportation resumed, and streets were reopened. “Ali was somehow closed up on the inside,” Pauline said. “He had something. I don’t know what it is, but something was wrong.”
The situation was much calmer than on Friday evening, when local police officers reinforced by colleagues from other places in Bavaria and an elite federal counterterrorism unit flooded the city. At the height of the emergency, when the police believed — incorrectly, it turned out — that as many as three gunmen might be on the run, 2,300 officers were deployed throughout the city. As of noon on Saturday, that number had gone down to 800, including investigators working the case. There were hints that his rampage had been premeditated. In a raid at 3:30 a.m. Saturday on his family’s apartment in the Maxvorstadt neighborhood, which includes some of the city’s renowned art museums and is adjacent to the city’s historic center, the authorities found newspaper articles on police responses to other shooting rampages, as well as the book on school gunmen. The police also removed computer equipment, documents and other materials.
Thomas Steinkraus-Koch, the chief state’s attorney in Munich, said Saturday that his office was investigating the case, although it was being monitored by the federal prosecutor, based in Karlsruhe, who has jurisdiction over cases involving terrorism, espionage and war crimes. Officials said they were investigating reports that the gunman might have hacked a girl’s Facebook page and promised food at an especially low price to lure people to the McDonald’s shortly before the first shootings. They were also investigating whether he had specifically targeted young people.
“We are assuming at the moment that we are talking about only one perpetrator, one perpetrator who committed suicide,” he said. Three of those killed were 14 years old, two were 15, and the others were 17, 19, 20 and 45. Three of the nine were female. All lived in the Munich area, officials said.
The city’s mayor, Dieter Reiter, praised the police for “their outstanding performance,” and announced that Saturday was a day of mourning, with all scheduled festivities canceled. Flags in Germany were flown at half-staff. Of the 27 people injured, 10 were in critical condition, including a 13-year-old boy.
The fact that the authorities appeared to respond effectively to the attack should limit any political fallout, said Jacob Funk Kirkegaard, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. After carrying out the shootings in the shopping mall, Mr. Sonboly retreated to the parking garage. From the top level, he engaged in a shouting match with one or more people at a distance, with the expletive-filled exchange recorded on video.
“You would think the German people would be consoled by the fact that the law enforcement apparatus was available and ready to act,” he said. One of the bystanders fumed at “Turks,” and the gunman replied, “I am German,” “I was born here,” and “I grew up here in a Hartz IV area,” a reference to a tier of unemployment and welfare benefits — meaning that he was from a bottom rung of society.
Though Munich is known as open and fun-loving, Bavaria is politically conservative, and its leaders — including the premier, Horst Seehofer — have been at the forefront of criticism of Ms. Merkel’s policy of welcoming refugees. The Munich train station, which was evacuated Friday night, has been a major hub for Syrian refugees arriving in the country. He seems to have eluded the police at that point, while the authorities were scrambling to respond to reports, late proved unfounded, of gunfire elsewhere and that there might have been as many as three attackers armed with long guns. At the height of the emergency, 2,300 officers were deployed throughout the city.
Klaus Hurrelmann, a professor of public health and education at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin, who wrote the introduction to the German edition of the academic study found in the gunman’s room, said the book examined 10 school killers in the United States, finding that they had mental illness, had been exposed to violence and had access to weapons — all of which appear to be the case for the Munich teenager. When the police found Mr. Sonboly’s body, they feared that the backpack he was carrying might contain a bomb. It did not, but held 300 more rounds of ammunition.
“We are assuming at the moment that we are talking about only one perpetrator, one perpetrator who committed suicide,” said Thomas Steinkraus-Koch, the chief state’s attorney in Munich.
Among the many questions facing the authorities on Saturday as Munich slowly returned to normal was how Mr. Sonboly had gotten a handgun and so much ammunition, despite Germany’s strict gun laws.
The serial number of the Glock had been scratched off, complicating the authorities’ ability to trace the firearm, said Robert Heimberger, the chief of the Bavarian State Criminal Police, at a late morning news conference. The teenager did not have a license to own a gun.
There will also be questions about whether schools, social services and Mr. Sonboly’s family failed to take sufficient notice of his problems, and about the degree to which other attacks and violence in popular culture might have influenced him.
“We cannot ignore — and I don’t know the solution, but without a doubt, and this was the case in this instance — that the glorifying of violence in internet games has a damaging effect on the development of young people,” Thomas de Maizière, the German interior minister, said on Saturday.
Chancellor Angela Merkel, after meeting with top officials in Berlin, told the nation that the “night of horror” was traumatic for a Europe already reeling from attacks this month in Nice and on a train headed to Würzburg, Germany.
“We are in deep and profound mourning for those who will never return to their families — the families, the siblings, the friends for whom everything will be void and empty today,” she said.
Klaus Hurrelmann, a professor of public health and education at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin, who wrote the introduction to the Germany edition of the academic study found in the gunman’s room, said the book examined 10 school killers in the United States, finding that they had mental illness, had been exposed to violence and had access to weapons — all of which appear to be the case for the Munich teenager.
“It bears noting that the perpetrator had an academic book at his home,” Mr. Hurrelmann said. “He appears to have recognized a familiar suffering among the 10 men in the book, who were in a similar situation.”“It bears noting that the perpetrator had an academic book at his home,” Mr. Hurrelmann said. “He appears to have recognized a familiar suffering among the 10 men in the book, who were in a similar situation.”