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Munich shooter was a ‘demented individual with no political motive’

The teenage gunman who killed nine people in a shooting spree in Munich, Germany on Friday was obsessed with mass shootings and had no known links to the Islamic State group, according to city police.

Sven Hoppe / dpa / AFP | A policeman stands guard at the Marienplatz square in Munich, southern Germany, on July 22, 2016.
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Police chief Hubertus Andrae told a press conference on Saturday "no evidence" of links to the Islamic State (IS) group has been found in the home and room of the Munich shooting suspect. In addition, he said there was no indication that the man had accomplices. Andrea added that the suspect had been obsessed with articles and a book on police operations ”following attacks by mentally disturbed people”.

The shooter was a “demented individual with no political motive”, added the Munich prosecutor’s spokesman, Thomas Steinkraus-Koch, during this same press conference.

'Attack weakens Merkel'

The investigation established that the 18-year-old dual Iranian-German citizen, who was born and raised in Munich, was armed with 9mm Glock pistol and shot 300 rounds during the shooting. He then shot himself in the head.

The Munich prosecutor’s spokesman also said the suspect – who German media named as Ali David Sonboly – had been followed by a psychiatrist and had no criminal record, but had been a victim of theft in 2010 and assault in 2012.

Friday evening's attack at the Olympia shopping mall left 35 people injured, of whom 10 are in a critical condition.

Investigators looking into the mass shooting said the gunman spent more than a year preparing his attack.

Bavarian investigator Robert Heimberger said the suspect visited the site of a previous school shooting in the German town of Winnenden and took photographs.

He said the shooter, who likely got his illegal weapon through the internet's "dark net" market, was an avid player of first-person shooter video games, including "Counter-Strike: Source".

At a press conference, Chancellor Angela Merkel deplored a “night of horror”, “mourning with a heavy heart for those who will never return to their families”.

The German leader also said the country’s security services would do everything to ensure the public was safe, saying the federal police would lend its support to the Bavarian police.

Seven of his victims were themselves teenagers, who police said he may have lured to their deaths via a hacked Facebook account.

The Turkish foreign ministry said three Turkish citizens were among nine people killed in the Munich attack, while Greece's foreign ministry said one Greek was among the dead. According to foreign media reports, there were also three Kosovo Albanian victims.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and REUTERS)

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