Shooter kills nine in Munich; officials see no link to ISIS

The killer was identified as an 18-year-old German-Iranian, according to Munich Police Chief Hubertus Andrae. The assailant’s motive is still unclear, but officials say it was not terrorism. Andrae said the man was “obsessed with shooting rampages” and had written a book titled “Rampage in Head: Why Students Kill.”

Authorities also confirmed the unnamed suspect had a link to Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik, whose attack was five years ago to the day. The assailant used a fake woman’s Facebook account to lure people to the shopping center.

Earlier, German police said three suspects with rifles were at large after the shooting and no one had been arrested. The number of dead reported have also fluctuated between eight and nine people.

“The first reports came at 6 p.m. (1700 GMT), the shooting apparently began at a McDonald’s in the shopping center,” Munich Police Spokeswoman Claudia Kuntzel said.

The shooting happened inside a McDonald’s at the Olympia-Einkaufszentrum shopping mall in the Moosach district of Munich.

The State Department has asked Americans in Munich not to leave their homes or seek refuge at the U.S. Consulate.

“U.S. citizens are advised not to come to the U.S. Consulate due to the uncertain security situation. Continue to shelter in place, contact your family members to let them know you are safe, and fellow the instructions of police and emergency personnel,” the U.S. Consulate General Munich said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the country’s security forces will “do everything possible to protect the security and freedom of all people in Germany” in response to the attack.

The incident, in Germany’s third largest city, is the third terrorist attack in Western Europe over the past 10 days. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for recent attacks attacks in France and Germany.