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German police released new information in the Munich shooting rampage. They say the gunman was fascinated with mass killings. USA TODAY NETWORK
Munich police stand guard outside the shopping mall that was attacked on July 22.(Photo: Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY)
MUNICH<span style="color: Red;">*</span>—<span style="color: Red;">*</span>First, a 17-year-old in a foreign land<span style="color: Red;">*</span>used an ax and knife to stab Chinese tourists on a train. Then<span style="color: Red;">*</span>an 18-year-old local who received psychological treatment<span style="color: Red;">*</span>opened fire near a busy shopping mall after apparently trying to lure his young victims to their deaths through a hacked Facebook post.
These two teenage loners influenced by extremist ideologies on opposite sides of the spectrum picked the same week to bring something to Germany that the nation hasn't dealt with in decades: violence against random strangers.
Mohammed Riyadh, an asylum seeker<span style="color: Red;">*</span>from Afghanistan, wounded five people Monday in a rampage on a train near the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Bavarian town of Würzburg. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, posting a video of the teenager referring to himself as a "solider" for<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the terror group. Riyadh was<span style="color: Red;">*</span>shot dead by police as he fled the scene.
Local media named<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Ali David Sonboly, a dual German-Iranian national from Munich, as the gunman behind the shooting rampage outside a McDonald's in his hometown<span style="color: Red;">*</span>on Friday that killed nine people, including seven teenagers. Investigators said a trove of material about mass killings found in the gunman's home led them to believe he<span style="color: Red;">*</span>was inspired by Friday's<span style="color: Red;">*</span>five-year anniversary of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>a massacre of 77<span style="color: Red;">*</span>in Norway by Anders Breivik, a<span style="color: Red;">*</span>far-right extremist.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Sonboly died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
USA TODAY
Police: Munich shooter fascinated by mass killings
This week's<span style="color: Red;">*</span>violent attacks<span style="color: Red;">*</span>in Germany are the first to strike<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the country since the 1980s<span style="color: Red;">*</span>when the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>far-left militant<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Red Army Faction group engaged in a series of bombings, assassinations and kidnappings that targeted<span style="color: Red;">*</span>politicians, bankers and<span style="color: Red;">*</span>lawyers. And they<span style="color: Red;">*</span>may only be the start<span style="color: Red;">*</span>of a worrying new<span style="color: Red;">*</span>trend.
"The distinction between a terrorist attack and someone simply running amok is getting increasingly difficult to draw,"<span style="color: Red;">*</span>said Michael Wohlgemuth, the director of Open Europe, a Berlin-based think tank specializing<span style="color: Red;">*</span>in<span style="color: Red;">*</span>European affairs.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"No police could have been prepared for either of these attacks. They were soft targets. Not politicians, not some symbolic event.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>That's what makes it so frightening."
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Unlike France, Belgium and the United Kingdom, Germany has largely escaped terror attacks and other assaults in recent years.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Europol, the European Union's<span style="color: Red;">*</span>law enforcement agency, said there were<span style="color: Red;">*</span>211 terrorist attacks in Europe last year, a 5% increase over 2014.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>
Jürgen Todenhöfer, a Munich-based former judge<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and<span style="color: Red;">*</span>politician<span style="color: Red;">*</span>who<span style="color: Red;">*</span>has traveled to and written books about conflict zones around the world, said the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>attacks in Germany<span style="color: Red;">*</span>chillingly reveal<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the prevalence of misguided beliefs in taking<span style="color: Red;">*</span>up arms to fight a perceived injustice.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>
"It's like an illness," he said. "Our world is ill, and these people are ill, and it's almost like they're doing it because it's trendy."
Thamina Stoll, 22, a college student,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>visited the mall twice Friday<span style="color: Red;">*</span>before<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Sonboly commenced his assault and later recorded a widely distributed<span style="color: Red;">*</span>video<span style="color: Red;">*</span>on her cellphone of terrified shoppers fleeing the area. She<span style="color: Red;">*</span>said she is concerned<span style="color: Red;">*</span>a local individual would commit such a crime.
"In theory, there's a lot of psychologically unstable people running around in Germany," she said. "What prevents them from doing an equally horrible thing. Obviously an attack from the Islamic State would be just as terrifying, but something like this<span style="color: Red;">*</span>— you just don't see it coming. I got very lucky yesterday. I could have easily been one of the victims."
Thamina Stoll in her father's house in Munich on July 23.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY)
Stoll, who spent the last two years studying political science<span style="color: Red;">*</span>at Duke University, said living in the United States increased her awareness about gun violence.
"I thought Europe would be a pretty safe place up until now," she said. "Though I was surprised that nothing had happened in Germany yet."
Germany is Europe's wealthiest country, home to the European Union's central bank in its financial capital<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Frankfurt. It led<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the region's response to the migrant crisis<span style="color: Red;">*</span>by allowing in more than 1 million asylum seekers last year from<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Eritrea<span style="color: Red;">*</span>to Iraq to Syria.
It<span style="color: Red;">*</span>also has some of the world's strictest gun laws, passed after shootings at schools in 2002 and 2009. Gun purchasers under age 25 here<span style="color: Red;">*</span>must first pass a psychological test. Police said<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Sonboly acquired his weapon illegally.
That worries Nurhan Karasu, 45, a Turkish-born German national with two children who lives among the leafy streets behind the mall complex<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Sonboly singled out.
"The killer shouted that all Turks must die,"<span style="color: Red;">*</span>said<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Karasu, who also works at a shop in the mall. "It feels like everything (violent)<span style="color: Red;">*</span>in Germany is just beginning."
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