Attack in Germany

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36870874

The shooting was at a mall, but the Munich Hauptbahnhof has been evacuated and all transport in the city disrupted. People are advised to stay indoors.

Amateur video suggests it was white guys (no Muslims) who confused real life with one of their computer shooting games. Nonetheless 6 people are dead. Police ordered some precautions. Public transport doesn't operate. People are asked to walk back home or to their hotels and stay inside. But again: The shooting only took place in Olympia shopping mall.

I am trying to keep on this.. at this point its a whole lot of don't know and wont confirm.

Regardless of who the perpetrators are, this is incredibly sad. So much fear and anger out there, and they unfortunately feed each other.

Munich police confirm 5 dead in total. Attackers are NOT islamists - all footage suggest they are white, potentially right-wing.

It's good not to speculate because initial reports from any crisis are always wrong. It's best to wait for facts to sort themselves out.

Scariest is they were NOT captured and can strike again.

Right-wing extremists would make sense, given that today is the 5th anniversary of the horrible Anders Brevik attack.

I've also been following this dreadful situation, and it's still ongoing. This has been a bad week for Germany, with this event following the axe & knife attack in the Wurzburg area a few days ago. The number of victims in this latest attack has been climbing as the day progresses, and the reported three perpetrators are still at large. As always, my thoughts and prayers go out to those affected.

The airport is starting to have a problem, as people from incoming flights can no longer get into the city via rail or road. I expect they will be starting to divert flights at some point.

The latest report says only ONE shooter and he committed suicide. Belgian intelligence released report of targeting shopping centers , "American fast food and restaurants.
No confirmation if he was German or immigrant. Although they are now reporting an Islamist background. There have been reports that Allahu Akbar was shouted. I'm sure it will all be sorted out when they identify him.
The only good takeaway and I use that term loosely is that the police think was alone and there are no other active shooters on the loose. Pray they are right about that.

Police say he was a "German-Iranian" so this was not an attack by German nationalist far-rightists, as some initial reports seemed to suggest.

Jury is still out whether this attack is terrorist/political or the act of a deranged individual.

http://www.dw.com/en/munich-shooting-police-say-suspect-killed-no-indication-of-other-shooters/a-19421907

The usual terrorist act is to take as many innocent lives as possible as in bomb vest:

Police say a suspect committed suicide, and that they now believe he
had acted alone. There was "no indication" of other shooters, after
probing two false leads, Munich's police president said.

Long term resident? Not a new immigrant.

Police said they currently believe that the attacker was an
18-year-old German-Iranian who had lived in Munich "for a long time,"
but are still conducting checks. The motive was "unclear" at this
point.

I nust heard, ten dead, including supsect.
They said they think he was working alone,

I vote that everyone should turn off the news and get on with living your life.
There's too much information, mis-information, much too much stuff 24/7 that leads to over-stimulation and anxiety. It's really detrimental to your mental health.

Chexbres,
Thanks for your comment, I did that a week ago after the series of police shooting in the US. Even if you turn off the news, you still hear about events live as they are happening even though you are not glued to the tv. The news is omnipresent, available everywhere. By not focusing on these terrible events, I have more peace of mind and realize that many of these things are beyond my control anyway. I can concentrate on making my circle of influence a pleasant and positive one.

Happy travels,
Judy B

Yep, life sure was a lot easier when news took several months - or even years - to arrive...

I really don't see the point in reporting on isolated events like this.
Even if you were on your way to Munich on the same day, the drama would have been over with, and it's highly likely that you wouldn't have been affected at all.

There's too much information, mis-information, much too much stuff 24/7 that leads to over-stimulation and anxiety. It's really detrimental to your mental health.

Mental health of viewers is one thing. Mental health of the perpetrators is another, but almost never mentioned by the talking heads. Instead, they immediately suggested associations with terrorist organizations. This is the world we live in.

What can one person do about all this madness?
The answer is - nothing.
These are random acts of violence.

Nobody knows how or when these ideas got into the heads of the perpetrators, or how many more there might be like them. We live in a society which tolerates an increasing level of violence, and we had better get used to more outbursts such as these.

That's why I strongly suggest that it's not worth getting all worked up about things that you have absolutely no control over.

We can be aware of the news without being consumed with it. I'm with Chexbres - turn it off.

We live in a society which tolerates an increasing level of violence, and we had better get used to more outbursts such as these.

I think the reception that the Prime Minister Valls received during the ceremony in Nice suggests quite the opposite. French citizens appeared highly intolerant (of) and strongly upset by repeated violence and feeling of insecurity/lack of protection by their government. In general, I think your statement is highly controversial but this travel forum is not the place to debate it.

The lighter point about not getting overwhelmed and sucked in by 24/7 coverage of doom is well taken. I feel like I have to detach as a coping mechanism because the media ratings machine that thrives by broadcasting doom ad nauseam is not in the public interest. It's not the role of citizens or tourists to take on first order worry and responsibility for providing for their own safety - that's why we pay taxes and elect officials whose job is to provide for the safety of the whole population. The random acts for which there is no prior intelligence are truly challenging - I don't have any answers, it's a very tough problem.

I think it's important to be aware of what is going on in the world. It helps when voting in elections and in deciding where and if to travel. However, I almost never watch the news on TV. It seems to sensationalize everything and doesn't provide enough depth. I get most of my news from newspapers - both print and online versions.

Reports in the British media strongly suggest that this was not a jihadist terror attack, but an American-style "I'm going to kill everyone who pissed me off at school" teenage mass-shooting. The suspect apparently idolised the Norwegian Islamophobic terrorist Anders Breivik, which would be very strange if he were an Islamist.

This was confirmed by the French authorities, after they had investigated his background.

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