The Latest: Author: Safety was focus of school shooting book

MUNICH — The Latest on the shootings in Munich (all times local):

6:30 p.m.

The U.S. psychologist whose book about school shootings was found in the Munich killer’s room says often young gunmen research other perpetrators to find a role model.

Peter Langman, author of the 2010 book “Why Kids Kill: Inside the Minds of School Shooters” told The Associated Press by telephone from Allentown, Pennsylvania, that it’s younger shooters “who more frequently study other shooters.”

Police in Munich said the 18-year-old German-Iranian gunman had a German translation of Langman’s book along with materials relating to a 2009 school shooting in Germany and the bomb-and-gun attacks in Norway by Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 77 people five years ago Friday.

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Langman said his book was written “to keep people safe, to teach people what to look for to prevent such attacks.”

The gunman killed nine people and himself on Friday around a mall in Munich.

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5:30 p.m.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s office says French President Francois Hollande has called the German leader to talk about joint security operations in the wake of the deadly rampage at a Munich mall.

Merkel’s spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer says the call Saturday reinforced that “in these difficult times, it is good to know that France and Germany, the French and the Germans, stand closely together.”

She says Merkel and Hollande agreed to “further intensify” the already good work together on security issues.

Nine victims and the shooter died in the attack Friday in Munich, while France on July 14 was hit by a truck attack on a holiday crowd that killed 84 people in Nice.

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3:50 p.m.

Kosovo President Hashim Thaci has declared Sunday a day of mourning for three young ethnic Albanians who were killed in the Munich shooting.

Thaci, who called it a terrorist attack, says he considered the two young girls and a man as “heroes in the war for the joint freedom and values in Europe.”

He adds: “That act of violence has touched our hearts and Europe’s consciousness.”

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3:45 p.m.

The Spanish government has condemned the shooting in Munich that has left 10 dead, calling the attack a “senseless, cowardly and criminal act.”

The Spanish government says in a statement that it “transmits all its esteem and concern” for those “who have suffered from this senseless, cowardly and criminal act that has taken numerous lives and injured several persons.”

It also extends its “complete support for the German government and authorities in the fight against violence and in favour of democracy and liberty.”

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3:10 p.m.

German interior minister Thomas De Maiziere says there is “no indication of any connection to international terrorism” in the Munich attack.

De Maiziere told reporters he had met with all top security officials and no police record for the suspect has been found. He adds that intelligence agencies had no information on him.

De Maiziere says the shooter’s parents came to Germany in the late 1990s as asylum seekers.

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2:50 p.m.

Chancellor Angela Merkel says the country’s security services will “do everything possible to protect the security and freedom of all people in Germany” following two attacks in less than a week.

Merkel told reporters in Berlin on Saturday that an attack on a train on Monday night and Friday night’s deadly rampage in Munich had involved “places where any of us could have been” and have left Germans wondering “where is safe?”

Combined with the deadly attack in the French city of Nice, she says people are growing increasingly concerned.

“Such an evening and such a night is difficult to bear,” she said of the Munich attack. “And it’s even more difficult to bear because we have had so much terrible news in so few days.”

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2:10 p.m.

French President Francois Hollande has expressed his condolences and support for Germany after the Munich attack, calling it an “ignoble act aimed at spreading horror in Germany. . (Germany) will stand up to this. It can count on France’s friendship and co-operation.”

Hollande is holding a special government meeting Saturday where government ministers are discussing consequences and next steps after the Nice attack July 14.

Prince Albert of Monaco sent a letter to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, promising “the solidarity of my country in the face of this cruel ordeal.”

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2 p.m.

Kosovo leaders say three ethnic Albanians — two women and a man — were among the nine people killed by a gunman in Munich. President Hashim Thaci says on his Facebook page the deaths of the trio from Kosovo was “shocking” and says his nation stands with Germany in “denouncing and fighting any form of terrorism.” Parliament Speaker Kadri Veseli said that “such terrible attacks cannot and will not change our joint values and living.”

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1:00 p.m.

Tour de France riders have observed a minute’s silence at the start of Saturday’s 19th stage as a tribute to the victims of the Munich attack.

Race director Christian Prudhomme joined the riders on the starting line in the ski resort of Megeve. Wearing the race leader’s yellow jersey, Chris Froome stood next to German champion Andre Greipel.

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12:30 p.m.

Prosecutor Steinkraus Koch tells a news conference the suspect had a book titled: “Rampage in Head: Why Students Kill.”

Police Chief Andre says that the suspect appeared to be “obsessed with shooting rampages.”

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12:20 p.m.

Munich police investigator Robert Heimberger says it appears that the shooter hacked a Facebook account and sent a message urging people to come to the mall for a free giveaway.

The posting, sent from a young woman’s account, urged people to come to the mall at 4 p.m., saying: “I’ll give you something if you want, but not too expensive.”

Heimberger says: “It appears it was prepared by the suspect and then sent out.”

The woman shortly after reported that her account had been hacked.

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12:10 p.m.

Munich police chief Hubertus Andrae says man suspected of killing nine people in a shooting rampage was born and raised in Munich.

Andrae tells a news conference that police have found no indications that anyone other than one shooter was involved.

Police investigator Robert Heimberger says the shooter was armed with 9mm Glock pistol and had 300 rounds.

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12:05 p.m.

Munich police chief Hubertus Andrae says “no evidence” of links to the Islamic State group has been found in the home and room of the Munich shooting suspect.

Andrae also told a news conference that the crime and the perpetrator had “absolutely no” link to the issue of refugees.

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11:40 a.m.

The mayor of Munich has declared a day of mourning for the victims of Friday’s shooting in the Bavarian capital.

Dieter Reiter says the city is “shocked and aghast at this terrible act.”

In a statement Saturday on Facebook, Reiter expressed his condolences to the victims, their family and friends, and thanked security forces for their work.

Ten people, including the alleged shooter, were killed in the attack.

Reiter said Saturday would be “a day of mourning, not of celebration” and that all public festivals in the city over the weekend had been cancelled.

“These are difficult hours for Munich,” he said, adding that the city’s citizens had shown great solidarity toward each other. “Our city stands united.”

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8:30 a.m.

Peter Beck, a Munich police spokesman, said officers were still collecting evidence at the scene of the crime Saturday morning.

“With regard to the suspect we have to examine everything, but we don’t know yet what triggered the crime,” Beck told The Associated Press.

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This includes a correction of the spelling of Heimberger in a previous version

The Associated Press