The 18-year-old high-school student from Munich with Iranian and German citizenship also wounded more than two dozen others Friday night before turning his illegal Glock 17 pistol on himself, ending a shooting rampage that could have become even more tragic. Police told reporters that a search of the red backpack lying next to his black-clad corpse revealed that the shooter was carrying more than 300 rounds for the 9-millimeter handgun he used to kill his victims. The filed-off serial numbers of the Glock made it difficult to establish its origin. But investigators said the gunman, identified by German officials only as David S., had no permit to carry it.
It started as a normal Friday evening. A Munich mall was buzzing with shoppers, and across the street, customers were having a meal at a McDonald's restaurant.
Earlier that day, the shooter hacked a Facebook account and sent a message inviting people to come to the mall for a giveaway, said Robert Heimberger, the head of Bavaria's criminal police.
Investigators say they are still looking for a motive for the attack, but Munich prosecutor Thomas Steinkraus-Koch noted the gunman apparently was undergoing psychiatric treatment for problems including depression. Witnesses and a dramatic cell-phone video that police think is genuine indicated the gunman was unstable and disliked foreigners.
The shooter yelled anti-foreigner slurs both at a person verbally sparring with him from a balcony, which was caught on film by a neighbor, and later also inside the mall.
At one point, he yells, "I'm German!" to which the man on the balcony responds, "You are a jerk!" and demands to know what he is up to, saying "you should be in psychiatric care." The gunman orders the filming to stop, and shortly after that starts shooting, causing the neighbor filming to duck.
Law enforcement officials think the Munich tragedy could be a copy-cat attack, considering it was carried out on the fifth anniversary of the killing of 77 people by Norwegian right-wing extremist Anders Behring Breivik, whose victims included dozens of young people.
A search of the shooter's home overnight revealed a trove of literature about mass killings, including a German-language translation of the English book "Why Kids Kill: Inside the Minds of School Shooters."
But there was no evidence that he was linked to extremist groups such as the Islamic State, law enforcement officials told reporters, adding they believe the gunman acted alone.
Merkel called a special meeting Saturday of her government's security Cabinet and pledged afterward that Germany would "do everything possible to protect the security and freedom of all people," saying that, in the wake of a train attack near Wuerzburg and the truck attack in Nice, she understood Germans are wondering "Where is safe?"
"Such an evening and such a night is difficult to bear," she said of the Munich attack. "And it's even more difficult to bear because we have had so much terrible news in so few days."
JOIN THE 
Reader comments on sltrib.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Salt Lake Tribune. We will delete comments containing obscenities, personal attacks and inappropriate or offensive remarks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. If you see an objectionable comment, please alert us by clicking the arrow on the upper right side of the comment and selecting "Flag comment as inappropriate". If you've recently registered with Disqus or aren't seeing your comments immediately, you may need to verify your email address. To do so, visit disqus.com/account.
See more about comments here.