Silkroad Online Forums

Students killed in German school shooting
Eleven confirmed dead and several wounded by gunman reportedly wearing combat fatigues

Helen Pidd and agencies
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 11 March 2009 12.18 GMT

Article history


Policemen in front of the crime scene at the Albertville-School Centre in Winnenden near Stuttgart, Germany Photograph: Sascha Baumann/Getty Images
Police say a gunman dressed in a black combat uniform opened fire at a high school in southern Germany this morning, killing at least 11 people and injuring others before fleeing the scene.

The Deutsche Press-Agentur news agency said the suspected gunman, a 17-year-old former pupil from the school in the Stuttgart suburb of Winnenden, has been killed.

The Bild newspaper reported that the gunman was shot by police marksmen in a shopping centre, in nearby Wendlingen.

Police spokesman Klaus Hinderer said at least nine students were killed at Albertville high school . The gunman also killed at least one adult outside the building as he escaped.

"He went into the school with a weapon and carried out a bloodbath," said the regional police chief, Erwin Hetger. "I've never seen anything like this in my life."

The gunman entered the school at 9.30am (8.30am GMT) and opened fire at random before fleeing, police said. German media said nine of those killed were pupils, along with one adult. The school was evacuated after the incident.

Police could not confirm media reports that the gunman was a former student at the school.

According to Germany's Bild newspaper, the 17-year-old left the school two years ago. The paper reported that his parents had 18 weapons in their house. Armed police stormed the family' home and took his mother in for questioning, the paper added. The boy's father is "wealthy businessman" from a neighbouring area, it also said.

About 1,000 children attend the school, in a suburb 12 miles (20km) north-east of Stuttgart.

"We have to anticipate a death toll in double digits," said a spokeswoman for the Stuttgart authorities.

German television said the gunman had fled towards the centre of Winnenden.

Reuters reported that helicopters were circling above the town while rescue workers and firefighters were at the school. Eyewitnesses told German media of hearing shots and screaming. One pupil said she first thought it was a stupid joke. Then she saw her classmates jump out of windows, before she also fled the school.

A police spokesperson told Bild that the gunman shot a passerby near the psychiatric clinic in Winnenden. A worker from the clinic told the paper: "I heard six or seven shots. I am not allowed to leave my post."

Several school shootings have shocked Germany in recent years. In 2006, a masked man wearing explosives and brandishing rifles opened fire at a school in the western German town of Emsdetten, wounding at least 11 people before killing himself.

Tasdik wrote:I don't know what the hell would make someone go all berserk on unarmed kids at school. It's disgusting.

Tasdik wrote:I don't know what the hell would make someone go all berserk on unarmed kids at school. It's disgusting.

Shin'kensei wrote:

Tasdik wrote:I don't know what the hell would make someone go all berserk on unarmed kids at school. It's disgusting.

+1

Hard to imagine there's people in the world who take great pleasure in making others suffer without any reasons for it, sometimes.

ThatBluePerson wrote:Life is so messed up, sometimes the only answer is rebellion.

Jstar1 wrote:thats terrible, I guess no one is immune to gun problems, we really should keep them in check. The german shooter had 16 guns in his house, no wonder

TOloseGT wrote:world's going to shit along wit the economy. expect more things like this to pop up when ppl show their true colors in desperate times.