Munich shooting has nothing to do with refugees: Commentator

Press TV has conducted an interview with Oliver Towfigh Nia, a journalist and political analyst from Berlin, to discuss the recent shooting incident at a major shopping center in the southern German city of Munich.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Your take on this situation that has taken place in Germany as, of course, we're seeing more and more of all kinds of attacks throughout the world. Tell me about the significance and the timing of this and overall the analysis by police?

Towfigh Nia: You mentioned that this attack was almost on the fifth anniversary of the Norwegian attack but Germany has been the scene of another terrorist attack in Würzburg a few days ago. So, this attack last night in Munich just deepened the shock of Germans. The magnitude of this attack that was in a major city like Munich basically crippled the whole life, the public life, the public transportation. So, it was really a deep shock and the Germans are still trying to sort out what really happened - the background of this teenager you mentioned yet, mental health problems yet, also problems at school. We don't know a lot about his family, about his father, his mother and his brother. So, it's a real tragic incident and Germany is still in an absolute state of shock.

Press TV: Looking at the other side of things as I said we're seeing more and more attacks throughout Europe (on refugees). Do you think this will have an overall effect on that situation on the perspective of course, though they are saying that it is related to the Norwegian murderer? How do you see this overall?

Towfigh Nia: Obviously there's an anti-refugee mood in Germany. There's no doubt about that. But this is not a refugee case. I mean this is not a kid who just hated refugees. He was a kid who was born in Germany, who wasn't of a migrant background, migrant origin, but obviously every case is different. The case that we had in Würzburg was basically a radical Islamist who attacked passengers on a train and in Nice in southern France, it was different and in this case the German authorities are saying this is also different. I mean this is like you have your case a young teenager who was obsessed with killing, rampages and going on a killing spree. He read books about it, he had watched movies and everything related to the story. So, this is really a case of a mental case. I think this was just a kid who needed help and couldn't get the necessary help.

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