Munich shooting: Police say killer revealed mass murder plans to Afghan friend

Ansbach (Germany): Munich authorities say a 16-year-old Afghan friend of the Munich attacker who killed nine people in a rampage before killing himself may have known of the attack in advance. [caption id=“attachment_2914432” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. AP[/caption] Police said the 16-year-old friend was arrested late Sunday night, and investigators were able to retrieve a deleted chat between him and the attacker on the WhatsApp messaging platform. From the chat, it appears that the 16-year-old met with the attacker at the scene of the rampage — a mall in Munich — before the attack, police have said. He also knew the attacker had a pistol. Investigators say the two teenagers met last year as in-patients at a psychiatric ward. Both were being treated for online game addiction, among other things. Meanwhile, the victim in Sunday’s knife attack in southern Germany has been identified as a Polish citizen. Poland’s foreign ministry spokesperson Rafal Sobczak has said the woman who was killed by a knife-wielding refugee can be confirmed as Polish. The attack in Reutlingen was one in a series of deadly attacks in Germany in the past week. Sven Heinz of the Reutlingen police said on Polish TVN24 that the attacker injured two other people before being arrested. His motives were probably personal. The attacker has been identified as a 21-year-old Syrian asylum-seeker.