Shock after Munich

Secretly radical: IS terror conquers children’s rooms

Emrah I. (right) is not the only one who prepared for his "big day" in his childhood bedroom. More and more children and young people are radicalizing themselves via social media in their own bedrooms before they strike.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/stock.adobe.com, ZvG, LPD NÖ, Wikipedia Krone )

The act of terror in Munich is shocking: According to the police, there were no concrete signs that the perpetrator (18) was radicalized. But experts warn: "Austria has a problem!"

They all have one thing in common. A sheltered home, an intact family life, a cell phone and a nursery. And that's exactly where they are radicalized - between a brown teddy bear in the corner and soccer on the carpet. Not in mosques, not at secret rallies.

Terror in Munich
"The fact is that we are at the beginning of a new wave of jihadist terrorism," says extremism researcher Daniela Pisoiu after the terror in Munich on Thursday morning, in which the suspected assassin was struck down by countless shots from police weapons after firing indiscriminately at officers in front of the Nazi Documentation Center.

Emrah I. (right) is not the only one who prepared for his "big day" in the nursery. More and more children and young people are radicalizing themselves via social media in their own bedrooms before they strike.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/stock.adobe.com, ZvG, LPD NÖ, Wikipedia Krone )

The new wave can now be referred to as "ITT": Experts refer to it as "Islamist teenage terror".

Guido Steinberg, German Islamism researcher, says clearly: "Jihadist radicalization in Austria has continued unabated. Individual young people can be mobilized simply by consuming IS propaganda."

The fact is that we are at the beginning of a new wave of jihadist terrorism.

Extremismusforscherin Daniela Pisoiu

It requires no human networks (only allies and encouragement on social media) - and for attacks, simple equipment, little logistics, little planning, no effort and easily procurable weapons. So it's all very simple, as the hands of the domestic executive are still legally tied when it comes to monitoring messenger services.

He was very intelligent and extremely internet-savvy
We remember - they all planned it from their children's rooms: Blowing up Vienna Central Station (it was a 16-year-old), killing a politician (14 years old), blowing up thousands of partying young people at US superstar Taylor Swift's concert in the Austrian capital - Beran A. is 19, he made the plans for his supposed heroic deed in his mommy and daddy's smart house in Ternitz (Lower Austria).

So did Emrah I. The 18-year-old from Salzburg with Bosnian roots comes from a good family, he and his little brother (16) specialized in electrical engineering at the HTL, he was a good student before he "dropped out" in January of this year. Because there were a few problems that are said to have arisen during the pandemic, Emrah I. became a loner, liked to pray and got into fights with his classmates. As reported, there was an assault at school in February 2023, several statements from classmates, an investigation by state security officers and a house search.

The act of terror in Munich was shocking: According to the police, there were no concrete signs that the perpetrator (18) was radicalized.

(Bild: zVg, Krone KREATIV)

But even this did not reveal any "real" radicalization. The 19-year-old played "Roblox" on his laptop. He made his own avatars (game characters), pimped them with (IS)Al-Nusra flags and organized virtual shooting exercises (at people).

Attacker paid 400 euros for rifle
On Wednesday evening, he bought a real gun from a private collector in Flachgau despite the weapons ban. He paid 400 euros for the old Swiss military rifle including bayonet and 50 rounds of ammunition and drove to Munich in mommy's car on Monday morning instead of going to his apprenticeship in a mechanical engineering company, which he had started last Monday.

Employer sounded the alarm
Emrah I.'s employer raised the alarm when he didn't show up on day 4. At a time when he was already firing at police officers in Germany with a World War II repeater.

What drove the man from Salzburg to commit this insane act will probably remain a well-kept secret in his childhood bedroom. Nothing was found during the search of his parents' home after the crime: no material glorifying IS. And there is no need to hope that Emrah I.'s cell phone will be analyzed. It was completely destroyed when the assassin died in a hail of bullets.