David Sonboly (born Ali David Sonboly) was an 18-year-old German-Iranian who had a documented history of psychiatric treatment, depression, and bullying. He was fixated on mass shootings, particularly the 2011 Norway attacks by Anders Breivik, on whose anniversary he struck. After the rampage he shot himself dead as police closed in.
Victims
Armela Segashi (14)
Can Leyla (14)
Selçuk Kılıç (15)
Hüseyin Dayıcık (17)
Roberto Rafael (15)
Dijamant Zabërgja (21)
Sabine S. (45)
Sevda Dağ (45)
Guiliano Kollmann (19)
Location
Olympia-Einkaufszentrum (OEZ), Hanauer Straße 68, Munich, Germany
Summary
An 18-year-old gunman opened fire at and around the Olympia shopping centre in Munich, killing nine people, most of them teenagers, before taking his own life.
Details
On 22 July 2016, David Sonboly began shooting at a McDonald's near the Olympia-Einkaufszentrum (OEZ) in Munich, then continued firing in and around the mall. Nine people were killed and dozens injured before Sonboly fled and later shot himself as police pursued him. Most victims were teenagers, and several had migrant backgrounds. Investigators concluded the attack was motivated by a far-right, racist ideology combined with the attacker's obsession with previous mass shootings, notably Anders Breivik's 2011 Norway massacre, which occurred exactly five years earlier.
Background
On the evening of 22 July 2016, an 18-year-old gunman opened fire in and around the Olympia-Einkaufszentrum (OEZ), a large shopping centre in the Moosach district of Munich, Germany. Nine people were killed and several others wounded before the perpetrator died by suicide. The attack occurred on the fifth anniversary of the 2011 Norway attacks carried out by Anders Behring Breivik, a coincidence investigators later concluded was deliberate on the part of the shooter.
The perpetrator was David Sonboly, a German citizen born in Munich in 2007 to parents of Iranian background. He had reportedly struggled with psychological problems, including depression and social anxiety, and had previously received inpatient psychiatric treatment. He was a pupil who had been the target of bullying. Investigators found that he had developed an intense preoccupation with mass shootings and rampage killings over an extended period before carrying out the attack.
The Attack
The shooting began at around 6:00 p.m. local time. Sonboly first opened fire near a McDonald's restaurant located close to the shopping centre, an area frequented by young people, before continuing his attack in and around the OEZ. Many of the victims were teenagers. The youngest victims were 14 years old. Several of those killed came from immigrant and minority backgrounds, a detail that became central to later debates about the shooter's motive.
The attack caused widespread panic across Munich. False reports of multiple gunmen and shootings at other locations circulated as the city went into lockdown. Public transport was suspended, residents were told to stay indoors, and a large-scale police operation, including special forces, was mounted. The confusion meant that for several hours authorities believed they might be dealing with a coordinated terrorist attack involving multiple attackers, before it became clear that there was a single perpetrator.
The Victims
Nine people were killed in the attack. Most of the victims were teenagers and young people. They came from a range of backgrounds, with several having roots in countries such as Turkey, Kosovo, Greece and Hungary. The youngest victims were 14 years old, and the killings of so many young people made the attack one of the most devastating mass shootings in modern German history.
In addition to the nine killed, a number of people were injured, some by gunshot wounds and others in the panic and chaos surrounding the events. The deaths of so many adolescents, and the targeting of a place where young people gathered, deeply affected the city of Munich and prompted national mourning.
Investigation and Aftermath
Sonboly fled the immediate area after the initial shooting and was later found dead a short distance from the shopping centre, having killed himself with the firearm he had used. He had obtained the weapon, a Glock pistol, illegally; investigations into how he acquired it led to the prosecution of the seller who had supplied the gun and ammunition through the dark web.
Police and prosecutors investigated the shooter's background, online activity and psychological state at length. They established that he had researched previous mass shootings extensively, had visited the site of a 2009 school shooting in Winnenden, and had collected material about rampage killers. He had no accomplices, and the attack was determined to have been planned and carried out by him alone.
Motive and Classification
The classification of the shooter's motive became a subject of significant debate. Initial assessments by some authorities framed the attack primarily as a rampage killing driven by the perpetrator's psychological problems, his experience of bullying, and his fixation on previous mass shootings rather than as a politically or ideologically motivated act.
Later analyses, including an expert report and an investigation commissioned in subsequent years, concluded that the attack also had a racist and far-right extremist dimension. This assessment pointed to indications that Sonboly had deliberately targeted people he perceived as having immigrant or minority backgrounds, and noted his apparent identification with the Norway attacker Breivik. The reclassification, formally acknowledging a radical-right and racist motive alongside the psychological factors, was an important development for the victims' families, who had long argued that the attack should be recognised as racially motivated. The exact balance between mental-illness factors and extremist ideology in the shooter's motivation remains a matter of analysis.
Legacy
The Munich OEZ shooting is remembered as one of the deadliest mass shootings in post-war Germany and contributed to ongoing debates about gun control, online radicalisation, the dark-web trade in illegal firearms, and the recognition of right-wing extremist violence. The man who sold the weapon used in the attack was tried and convicted in connection with the killings.
A memorial was established near the shopping centre to honour the nine people who lost their lives. The case has continued to influence German discussions about how authorities classify and respond to acts of violence that combine personal grievance, mental illness and extremist ideology, and about ensuring that victims of racially motivated attacks are properly acknowledged.
Frequently asked questions
What was the The Munich OEZ Shooting case?
An 18-year-old gunman opened fire at and around the Olympia shopping centre in Munich, killing nine people, most of them teenagers, before taking his own life.
Who was responsible for The Munich OEZ Shooting?
David Sonboly. David Sonboly (born Ali David Sonboly) was an 18-year-old German-Iranian who had a documented history of psychiatric treatment, depression, and bullying. He was fixated on mass shootings, particularly the 2011 Norway attacks by Anders Breivik, on whose anniversary he struck. After the rampage he shot himself dead as police closed in.
Who were the victims of the The Munich OEZ Shooting case?
The named victims were Armela Segashi, Can Leyla, Selçuk Kılıç, Hüseyin Dayıcık, Roberto Rafael, Dijamant Zabërgja, Sabine S., Sevda Dağ, Guiliano Kollmann.
Where and when did the The Munich OEZ Shooting case take place?
