Munich gunman saw sharing Hitler's birthday as 'special honour'

German police investigating the mass shooting in Munich last Friday night in which nine people were killed have said the gunman was racist and a rightwing extremist who saw it as a “special honour” that he shared a birthday with Adolf Hitler.

Ali David Sonboly, 18, who was born in Munich to Iranian parents, boasted to friends that he was proud to be an “Aryan”, citing Iran as the land where Aryans originated and repeatedly stating his hatred of Turks and Arabs.

Investigators are examining whether Sonboly specifically targeted people of foreign origin when he apparently lured young people to McDonald’s via a Facebook page in which he offered them free food.