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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 24 JULY 2016 4 News Munich gunman inspired by Breivik MATTHEW AGIUS GERMANY'S worst mass murder in decades was carried out by a chubby, shy, 18-year-old who was suffering from mental illness and not the Islamic State fundamental- ist terrorist group. A police spokesman has told reporters that the gunman who killed 10 people in a shooting ram- page in Munich on Friday evening had apparently been inspired by Anders Behring Breivik's murder of 77 people in Norway in 2011. Addressing a press conference on Saturday, Munich police chief Hu- bertus Andrae said there was an "obvious" link between the new at- tack and Friday's fifth anniversary of Breivik's attack. The lone gunman, who killed nine people and wounded a fur- ther 21 at a shopping centre in Munich before shooting himself, was identified as Ali David Son- boly, referred to by German police as "David S.", an 18-year-old Ger- man of Iranian descent. The shoot- ing spree ended with the gunman turning the gun on himself. Stephan Baumanns, the 47-year- old owner of the Treemans bakery and coffee shop below Sonboly's apartment, told the UK's Guard- ian: "I saw him every once in a while pass by, he was a very shy guy and tall, about 6ft 2in (1.88m). He wasn't very sporty, rather a lit- tle chubby. "He seemed like a lazy guy. He had a job distributing a free news- paper, Münchener Wochenblatt, but I often saw him rather than deliver them, throw them all away into the garbage bin." A spokesman for the Munich prosecutor's office said the killer had been receiving psychiatric care. Sonboly's identity was estab- lished on the basis of witness statements and closed circuit tel- evision. His body was later found in a side street, not far from the shopping mall where much of the shooting happened. "We are assuming that he may have suffered from depression," Andrae said. "As far as we know he has no criminal record. In 2012 and 2010 he was a victim of an at- tack ¬– on one occasion he was beaten by three young offenders." A spokesman also dismissed ear- lier fears that up to three gunmen had been involved in the attack. Two bystanders who fled the scene in a car at "considerable speed" had been questioned and found to have no connection to the inci- dent. Sonboly had no links to ISIS or any other terrorist organisation and was born and bred in Munich. Additionally, the name "Ali" is a Shia Muslim name, while ISIS, together with Al Qaeda and Boko Haram, are Sunni Muslims. While he was not ideologically or religiously radicalised, inves- tigators have found that he was fascinated by mass shootings and had uncovered a stash of reading material about killing sprees in his room. One newspaper article found at the shooter's home was entitled "Why do students kill." The firearm used in the attack, a 9mm Glock 17, was not licensed to Sonboly – who had no firearms licence. Some 300 rounds of 9mm ammunition were found in a red rucksack he had been wearing dur- ing the attack. Officers reportedly recovered other handguns with "relatively large" magazines at the scene, but not long-barrelled rifles, as had originally been reported. Police are investigating sugges- tions that Sonboly had lured some of his young victims to their deaths with a promise of free McDonald's food after a fake Facebook page re- portedly encouraged youngsters to gather at a particular outlet in the afternoon of the shooting, to ben- efit from the special offer. The attack comes at a time when Europe is still reeling from other indiscriminate attacks by people either affiliated with or drawing inspiration from ISIS. An axe-wielding teenage Afghan refugee, claiming to be inspired by ISIS, attacked passengers on a German train before being shot dead by police on the 18th July. Four days before that attack, on the evening of the 14th July, 84 people were killed and 303 injured when a 19-tonne cargo truck was deliberately driven into crowds celebrating Bastille Day on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France, in an attack later claimed by ISIS. The driver Mohamed La- houaiej-Bouhlel, was a Tunisian- born resident of France. Before this, on the 10th of May, a German man attacked train com- muters in Munich with a knife while shouting Islamist slogans. He was also not previously known to police for extremism and is thought to suffer from psychologi- cal problems and drug issues. 72-year-old seriously injured by motor scooter Lija man in critical condition after fall into field A 72-year-old has been grievous- ly injured in a traffic accident in Hamrun. A police report said that he was hit in St Joseph High Street, Hamrun by a motor scooter driven by a 25 year old man from Qormi. The elderly man, who lives in Marsa, was taken to hospital by an ambulance and found to have suffered grievous injuries. Police investigations into the accident are ongoing. A 27-year-old man from Lija is in a critical condition in hospital after falling into a field outside Rabat. Police say they received a report from a passerby at around 10:15 yesterday morning of an uncon- scious man lying in a field. Police and ambulance crews raced to the scene, where they found the unconscious young man, who appeared to have fallen the height of half a storey into the field. An ambulance rushed the man to hospital, where he was found to be in a critical condition. Duty magistrate Doreen Clarke appointed several experts to assist in her magisterial inquiry. Police investigations are ongoing. 55 internet users fall victim to sextortion MATTHEW AGIUS POLICE have warned netizens – users of the internet – to stop and think before sharing intimate photographs or videos online, with the Community Media Rela- tions Unit of the police releasing an educational video, highlight- ing the risks of sharing intimate photographs or videos online. The law enforcement unit said that in the first six months of 2016, over 55 individuals – an average of two or three people per week – had come to them for help after falling victim of a prac- tice known as "sextortion," where the victim is duped into sending compromising photographs or video of themselves to a criminal posing as a potential sexual part- ner, which are then used to extort money from the victim. The majority of victims are males aged between 18 and 50 years. Generally, the victim would have responded to an invitation to a webcam chat with a stranger and been convinced to provide nude photographs or perform sex acts on camera. Threats to publish the material or forward it to family and friends if money is not paid then follow and often continue even after repeated pay- ments. Police appealed to the public not to trust messages received from people they do not know, with a reminder that there is no such thing as absolute control on what happens to information that is shared online. The Police went on to advise those who are or become victims of this crime to never pass on any money, credit card or personal details to the extortionists and to go straight to the nearest police station and file a report. There, victims will receive guidance as to how to proceed. Inset: 18-year-old Ali David Sonboly