Munich Police: Suspect Was A High School Student Fixated On Shooting Rampages

The suspect in the attack on a shopping mall in Munich on Friday is an 18-year-old German-Iranian high school student who lived in Munich and had a history of depression, Munich police said. The shooting rampage left at least 10 people dead, including the alleged attacker, and 27 injured, according to police.

His motive remains unclear, but as we reported, Munich police chief Hubertus Andrae told reporters that "a search of the suspect's home turned up 'no evidence' of links to the Islamic State group." Andrae said that their search did turn up documents linked to shooting rampages. "He was very intensely interested in that subject" Andrae told reporters.

As NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson reported, German authorities now say "this is no longer considered a terror incident but a rampage."

Soraya told our Newscast unit that police said the suspect killed himself. She said a video shot by a witness shows the shooter's exchange with a heckler during the attack. Here's more from Soraya:

"He yells: I am German, and live in a welfare area. The shooter said he had no choice but to get a gun and that it wasn't fault. He also said he had been hospitalized before shots rang out again.

"Police did not identify the gunman as per German privacy laws, but that he was not on any watch list. His body was discovered about a half mile away a couple of hours later."

As Soraya reported, the suspect's neighbors told German television that "the suspect was quiet and delivered newspapers to earn extra money."

The unnamed suspect used a 9mm Glock pistol with the serial number scratched off, Bavarian State Criminal Police Chief Robert Heimberger told reporters. "We have to try to restore it now by technical means in order to figure out where the weapon came from — that will take some time," he said. "In the magazine there were some munitions, and in the backpack he was carrying with him he had a large number of bullets, more than 300 bullets."