German shooter may have used Facebook to lure victims to restaurant to kill

German police are investigating the possibility that the gunman at a shopping mall in Munich lured victims to a McDonald's restaurant there with a scam on Facebook.

Police at the scene of a shooting in Munich, Germany. Photo: AP

"There was a joke on Facebook with what I believe to be fake information saying that at 4pm everyone should gather at McDonald's because the restaurant might be offering free food," 9News quoted a reporter attending a press conference about the shooting at a shopping center in Munich as saying today.

And then, at around 6pm local time on July 22, a gunman opened fire at the restaurant and then moved to the nearby Olympia shopping centre. The attack left nine people dead, including children, and 21 injured.

Asked whether a Facebook joke about a free McDonald's meal was linked to the shooting, Munich police chief Hubertus Andrae confirmed the detail was part of an ongoing investigation.

At around 8:30 p.m. the same day, police found the body of a man who had committed suicide nearly a kilometer from the scene. Based on surveillance video and witness accounts, authorities concluded that he was the sole gunman who carried out the attack. The suspect was identified as an 18-year-old German-Iranian man who had lived in Munich for more than two years.

According to VNE