Active Shooter In Olympia Mall In Munich

[BansheeOne]

And is possibly wrong.

 

Sorry, couldn't resist.

 

 

BTW, SEK NRW seems to be fond of the Belgian neighbors.

 

 

Edited April 7, 2018 by BansheeOne

[Stuart Galbraith]

Recent events have taught me to not really trust any news coverage of an event until at least 20 years afterwards.

[Markus Becker]

Use social media instead. They are still uncensored but have their own accuracy issues. WhatsApp reported a bomb exploding at the Germania Campus.

 

About the suicide, car ramings have been invented by the Palestinians and they follow up with stab/hack until they are disposed of.

[Markus Becker]

The media say the perp was a German with mental issues -which can mean one certain thing but he was 49 years old. A bit old for an Islamic terrorist. Looks like "German with mental issues" wasn't newspeak this time.

[BansheeOne]

The dwellings of a 48-year old graphics designer named as Jens R. are reported to be currently searched. Alleged to have no prior police record, but been "psychologically conspicious" before.

 

And it might be wrong.

Edited April 7, 2018 by BansheeOne

[DB]

One "right wing loner" coming up...

[BansheeOne]

Possible political links are being investigated, but so far the only somewhat manifest bits are that he became "psychologically conspicious" twice in 2014 and 2016, and either attempted suicide some time ago already or announced to kill himself in a spectacular way, possibly over relationship issues. Police may have conducted a controlled explosion at this flat, two kilometers from the crime scene, while the "suspicious item" in the van apparently was a pistol with an attached wire running under a floor mat.

 

Information keeps changing as to be expected; total number of dead including the perpetrator is now given as three rather than four, the other two having been claimed to be staffers of the restaurant he hit, which the restaurant has denied. It was initially reported that he was originally from Lower Saxony, but now seems to have come from the Sauerland, though he had lived in Münster for a long time, maybe moving to East Germany in between. Contrary to first accounts, he is said to have had a police record for stealing cellphones and car radios to finance a drug habit by one account, or for threats and property damage by another.

 

Not that it has kept the usual suspects from seizing on the event of course, from various AfD politicians ejaculating prematurely about another Islamist attack on Twitter to old Erdogan apparently blasting the French government for receiving an YPG delegation with words to the effect of "see what the terrorists have done in Germany, the same will happen to you" in a speech today.

Edited April 7, 2018 by BansheeOne

[Roman Alymov]

Not that it has kept the usual suspects from seizing on the event of course, from various AfD politicians ejaculating prematurely about another Islamist attack on Twitter to old Erdogan apparently blasting the French government for receiving an YPG delegation with words to the effect of "see what the terrorists have done in Germany, the same will happen to you" in a speech today.

 

To some degree he is correct as now local crazy follow example set by terrorists. The same was in Moscow when mentally ill female babysitter from Central Asia killed the child in ISIS manner.

[Marek Tucan]

Local crazy used a truck for mass murder decades before IS. Nothing new under the sun. One has to wonder if the movie about Hepnarova did not actually serve as inspiration, as it went out in 2016 few months before Nice.

[Stuart Galbraith]

ISIS isnt an organization anymore, its a state of mind.

 

Once upon a time, the mentally ill used to hijack airliners and go to Cuba. Now they just want to join ISIS.

[BansheeOne]

The two dead victims have been identified as a 51-year-old woman from Lüneburg County, Lower Saxony, and a 65-year-old man from Borken County, NRW. The number of injured is given with "more than 20"; the condition of the critical ones is unchanged.

 

The perpetrator used his own silver VW camping van, so police could establish his identity quickly. Besides the pistol with which he killed himself (no word on model), a blank gun and about a dozen "Polandcrackers" (Eastern European firecrackers which are illegal in Germany) were found in the vehicle. The door to his flat was explosively opened as a precaution. A de-activated AK and more Polandcrackers were found inside. The guy was not known as an extremist of any kind, though vague reports on "right-wing contacts" are still being investigated. As usual, there were initial witness reports about multiple perpetrators, like two men jumping from the van and fleeing, but that can probably be put down to the panic and confusion at the scene. Police are asking for any information and images of the event to be forwarded to them rather than be shared on the internet. A press conference has been announced for this afternoon.

 

Compared to the Munich events, response by authorities and the public seems to have been smooth. Statewide police and rescue forces including SEK and multiple medevac helicopters were quickly deployed to Münster, and a national terrorism alert triggered to put other state and federal authorities on notice in case that this was part of a coordinated event or copycats would follow suit. Local hospitals went into emergency mode, mobilized 250 personnel and called for blood donations, but limited it to already-registered donors quickly after about 300 volunteers showed up within minutes. Police have also lauded the reasoned reaction of the population. By now, some of the street blockades have been lifted, though the immediate crime scene and perpetrator's flat remain sealed off.

Edited April 8, 2018 by BansheeOne

[Markus Becker]

The perp is said to have been a known petty criminal. As far as the police's reaction goes, there is a major police academy in Münster and there must have been a lot of extra police in town because of the planned Kurdish rally.

[BansheeOne]

Police have officially declared the suspect a single perpetrator. Apparently he had three apartments, one in Münster, one in Dresden and one in nearby Pirna, Saxony. At his Münster residence, several gas bottles and gasoline cans were found in addition to the previously mentioned deco AK and firecrackers, though it is currently unclear if those were connected to events. He had a previous record with five counts of fraud, property damage, threats and hit-and-run, but all proceedings were abated.

 

According to neighbors, he changed after he had a fall down the stairs at his house some years ago which left him with some permanent damage; he quarreled with the neighbors, sued a family he accused of having left items on the stairs, accused doctors of having messed him up in surgery, worked less and vanished for months at a time with his van. In late March he wrote an e-mail to a neighbor which contained vague reference to suicide. Police tried to talk to him but never met him; allegedly city health officials had contact with him though. One Turkish-descended neighbor noted he was certainly no right-winger since he had never had problems with him, he just knew no personal distance and would monologize on end.

 

Meanwhile Berlin police detained six people aged 18 to 21 today on suspicions that they might have planned to attack today's half-marathon run in the city. The main suspect is reported to be from a circle that had included Berlin truck attacker Anis Amri. The group had been under surveillance for two weeks, and while suspicions hadn't hardened, police apparently didn't want to take any chances after yesterday's incident and explain while they failed to prevent an act of terrorism again.

[Roman Alymov]

Police have officially declared the suspect a single perpetrator. Apparently he had three apartments, one in Münster, one in Dresden and one in nearby Pirna, Saxony. At his Münster residence, several gas bottles and gasoline cans were found in addition to the previously mentioned deco AK and firecrackers, though it is currently unclear if those were connected to events. He had a previous record with five counts of fraud, property damage, threats and hit-and-run, but all proceedings were abated.

 

Not bad for petty criminal with mental problems.

[BansheeOne]

As noted before, he was an industrial designer and reportedly made money by selling a lamp design. The apartments weren't rented either, but owned. Reminds me a bit of the Las Vegas shooter. The earlier report that his police record was over thefts to finance a drug habit obviously fall under "anything in the first 24 hours may be wrong".

Edited April 8, 2018 by BansheeOne

[APF]

So basically a guy whos mental compass got fucked up after he fell down a stair.

[Ssnake]

Looks like it.

[Stuart Galbraith]

Im reminded of the case of Phineas Gage who one day whilst being unwise with a tamping iron and a box of dynamite contriveed to place it through his brain.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phineas_Gage

 

He recovered after a fashion, but friends and neighbours also described he became an untrustworthy brute. Though in later years, his brain seeming repaired itself, and he became more like his old self.

 

You idly wonder if something similar happened with the Vegas shooter. A real life Terminal Man.

Edited April 9, 2018 by Stuart Galbraith

[BansheeOne]

The earlier report that his police record was over thefts to finance a drug habit obviously fall under "anything in the first 24 hours may be wrong".

 

Apparently the above referred to an acquaintance of the perpetrator whose dwellings in Telgte near Münster were also searched on Saturday, while the "possible right-wing contacts" are about a known extremist living at the same adress as his Pirna flat; in fact in an older lengthy document found at his Münster residence, he complained about having been wongly denounced as a right-winger and xenophobe, among a host of other issues.

 

Of his own previous record, two counts of threats reportedly were against his father whom he allegedly blamed for a downturn in his business success, though he seems to have still been well-off enough to own five cars. Obviously he had no permit for the handgun with which he shot himself and that has been vaguely described as an eight-shot model. Police are trying to retrace his steps in recent weeks in which he apparently had pretty much dropped off the radar.

 

Three of those injured remain in critical condition at this point. Victims were mostly from the region, but also the Netherlands.

Edited April 9, 2018 by BansheeOne

[Roman Alymov]

There was a similar case couple of years ago when construction company owner who lost his business went to local Gov office and shot few people there, later committed suicide.

[rmgill]

Then there's Marvin Heemeyer... His town backed him into a corner and kept pushing on him. His way of cracking was sealing himself inside his bulldozer after armoring it what concrete and steel and going on a slow rumlbing 'rampage' bulldozing the properties of the city counselors who kept pushing. In the end he shot himself.

[BansheeOne]

I just saw a history of vehicle ramming attacks. Would you believe that the first registered incident was in 1973, by a female truck driver who killed eight at a Prague tram stop over psychological problems she blamed on society? Another woman killed six running a Lincoln Continental over the sidewalk during a psychotic episode in Reno, NV in 1980. Then there's the Australian who drunkenly, but intentionally crashed his 25-ton into the pub he had previously been thrown out of near Mount Uluru in 1983, killing five; the Dutchman who drove his car into a crowd during a public celebration of the royal family in 2009 with seven dead; and the Chinese construction worker who ran over 17 with a utility vehicle as an escalation of an individual quarrel in 2010. Etc., etc.

 

Meanwhile one victim in the Münster incident remains in critical condition; the restaurant re-opened. The gun the perpetrator shot himself with has been described as of Yugoslavian make, quite common for weapons drifting around the black market here. Authorities and media are dissecting his life, but nothing much changing the appearance of a guy who went off the rails in recent years over personal setbacks. Though the usual suspects are still trying to tie him to Muslim extremism in some way, any way. There's a video on the net of two Indians being taken down by police near the scene shortly after the attack, but they were simply in a bad place to not understand German at a time this was still being treated as a possible terrorist incident and there were reports of two men having fled from the vehicle.

[Markus Becker]

"I just saw a history of vehicle ramming attacks."

 

Sounds interesting. What's the name and who aired it?

[BansheeOne]

It wasn't a broadcast but a Spiegel Online article, which, true to modern journalistic standards, seems to be based upon this Wiki list (also includes other than road vehicles).

[JWB]

I was in Reno that day and missed being run over by a few short minutes.