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Munich Shooting Suspect: Lone Iranian Shooter Commits Suicide After Attack

By Abdul Kuddus
Published on: 16:38 PST, Jul 22, 2016

The Munich shooting suspect is reportedly an 18-year-old German-Iranian man, who committed suicide after killing nine people and wounding 16. The German police investigating the case mentioned that the suspect was a dual citizen from Munich and his motive was still “fully unclear.”

Reportedly, the body of the alleged gunman was found less than a mile from the mall with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. The identity of the suspect has not been revealed.

The Munich shooting came a few days after a Tunisian man rummaged a lorry through crowds in the southern city of Nice, France, killing 84 people as they congregated to celebrate Bastille Day on a seafront promenade.

Police escort people who leave the Olympia mall in Munich, southern Germany, Friday, July 22, 2016 after shots were fired. Police said that at least six people have been killed. [Photo by AP Photo/Sebastian Widmann]
Hubertus Andrä, the chief of the Munich police, in a press conference said it was unclear the reason that motivated the assailant, who lived in the city for more than two years and had no criminal record. Reportedly, authorities were not certain that the Munich shooting rampage was a terrorist attack.

Police, reportedly are still seeking to unravel the motivation of the German-Iranian gunmen who went on a killing spree in a city shopping center.

The bloodshed sent Munich city into panic, as Germany declared a state of emergency and stopped public transportation in the middle of the rush-hour commute. Reportedly, the shooting rampage at the Olympia shopping center in the Bavarian capital has shaken Germany. The country now faces a major challenge in preparing for such attacks.

On social media, Germans used the hashtag #offenetür (Open Door) to help people stranded in public places.

Germany was already on edge last week, after an Afghan teenager attacked passengers on a train bound for Würzburg on Monday. The assailant, a teenage Afghan refugee who arrived in Germany last year, was shot dead by the police, reportedly carried out the attack in the name of the Islamic State.

Following the shooting at Munich, members of elite counterterrorism units spread across the city and ordered citizens to stay indoors. In some places, pedestrians could be seen raising their hands as they walked past police officers who had their weapons drawn, the New York Times reported.

Reportedly, there was already a sense of foreboding in Germany on an impending terror attack following the Nice lorry rampage, together with the train attack earlier in the week by an axe-wielding asylum seeker.

According to the Irish Independent, hours before the shooting in Munich, an opinion poll revealed public fear in Germany that the country would be next to face a terror attack.

Germany, a NATO member, played substantial role in military campaigns on the war on terror over the past 15 years, which reportedly provoked the anger of jihadists. Germany still has standing troops in Afghanistan, having deployed thousands in the past decade. Moreover, in northern Iraq, German troops are reportedly training Kurdish Peshmerga militiamen to use anti-tank weapons.

The Munich shooting episode is expected to inflame simmering tensions between Germans and immigrants, on the rise since Germany allowed nearly one million refugees during last year’s Syrian migrant crisis, in which Bavaria was on the front line.

“The country [Germany] still has troops in Afghanistan, having deployed thousands there in the past decade. In northern Iraq, German soldiers are training Kurdish Peshmerga militiamen to use anti-tank weapons,” the Irish Independent added.

Germany, which opened its borders to thousands of asylum seekers from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, and other countries, has largely remained unaffected by Islamic extremist attacks that has affected Europe in recent months.

The Munich shooting gives the far-right groups in Europe more reasons to raise refugee-linked terrorist connection in Germany, but it’s quite possible the terror attacks may have nothing to do with them. The shooting at Munich throws a challenge to Germany’s social cohesion with the rest of the world, especially with immigrants from the Middle East such as Syria, Iraq, and Iran.

What are your thoughts on the Munich shooting episode?

[Photo by Sebastian Widmann/AP Images]

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