Munich gunman David Sonboly had no known ISIS ties


A mass shooting at the Munich shopping center Olympia Einkaufszentrum Friday evening left 10 people dead, including the gunman, who has since been identified as an 18-year-old German-Iranian named David Sonboly whom authorities say had no apparent ties to an outside terrorist organization.
"Based on the searches, there are no indications whatsoever that there is a connection to Islamic State," said Munich Police Chief Hubertus Andrae in a press conference Saturday. Andrae noted that his officers had not found evidence tying the shooter to refugee communities or to past criminal activity — but did uncover a history of psychiatric care.
Nearly all of the victims were teenagers, with three just 14 years old. Another 16 people were wounded before Sonboly killed himself, and three remain in a life-threatening condition.
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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
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