Gumleaf
March 12th, 2009, 12:28 AM
12:00 AEST Thu Mar 12 2009
Friends described the German teenager who killed 15 people in a school shooting spree yesterday as a quiet boy with a liking for guns as mobile phone footage of his final moments emerged.
"We often practised with air pistols and airsoft [compressed air] guns in his father's cellar," a youth who identified himself as Dustin told n-tv television. "He always hit the bullseye."
Tim Kretschmer, a 17-year-old former pupil, killed himself after being cornered by police 40km from the shooting in the southwest town of Winnenden
The German teen grew up in a wealthy family.
"He got nearly everything he wanted," said Dustin. "He was quiet when he was at school and never went to parties. He had friends, but not many. They were interested in him only because he had money."
Police said the gunman stole the gun he used from his father, a member of a marksmen's club who kept 18 pistols and rifles at home, all but one of them locked in a safe.
Other acquaintances told the newspaper Die Welt that Kretschmer was a table tennis fan who had an arsenal of air guns and hundreds of horror films in his bedroom.
The owner of the marksmen's club frequented by Kretschmer and his father described them as kind people.
The son "was a good looking young man" who never touched alcohol when he was at the club, she said. "I'd never have dreamt he was capable of doing such a thing."
School bloodbath
Kretschmer, clad in black combat gear, went on a rampage at his old school in Germany yesterday before turning his gun on himself during a shootout with police.
He entered the secondary school in Winnenden near Stuttgart at 9.30am (7.30pm AEDT), killing nine pupils aged between 14 and 15 and three teachers in different classrooms with a handgun.
He wandered into several classrooms at the school he left last year, indiscriminately spraying bullets at teachers and students.
"He was constantly reloading his weapon," local police chief Konrad Gelden told reporters.
"He just opened the door, pulled out his gun and started shooting," one pupil said on German television. "One person saw someone shot in the head."
"My brother was in the classroom in which it happened," said another. "He was sitting next to his girlfriend and she was shot."
The German school shooting came just hours after a gunman went on the rampage in the southern US state of Alabama, killing 10 people before also turning the gun on himself.
Kretschmer went into classroom 10d three times, the Bild daily said on its website, hissing on the third visit: "Aren't you all dead yet?"
A teacher threw herself in front of a female pupil — and was shot by the gunman, Bild said.
Showdown with police
Police were alerted to the shootings within three minutes and dispatched two vehicles to the scene where they discovered the bodies of the pupils and three teachers — one of whom had only been working at the school for four weeks.
The 17-year-old then fled the Albertville-Realschule and went to a nearby psychiatric clinic where he shot dead a member of staff and stole a Volkswagen Sharan car. He then sped 40km to the town of Wendlingen.
(Read more: Students struggle to understand killings)
By this time a massive manhunt was underway, with hundreds of armed police commandos and snipers in black body armour on his trail, assisted by helicopters and dogs.
"The whole time police were on his trail," Gelden said.
Cornered in the car park of a shopping centre, a shootout between the teenager and the police ensued, in which two passers-by were killed.
Kretschmer turned his gun on himself after being wounded in the shootout, police said. (Watch more: Motive unknown)
"According to the latest police information, he was hit in an exchange of fire (with police) and then used his weapon on himself," police spokesman Fritz Mehl said.
Two policemen were seriously injured in the fire-fight but they were in a stable condition in hospital. Eight people were injured altogether.
The Bild daily said on its website that commandos had stormed the home of the teenager's parents, where 16 weapons were legally held — one of which the teenager used in his rampage, police said. He also took 50 bullets.
Speaking to reporters, the interior minister of Baden-Wuerttemberg state said there was nothing in the gunman's background to indicate that he held a grudge against the school.
"The gunman wanted to destroy an entire school," Heribert Rech said. "He was completely unremarkable, there was nothing in his background to suggest this could have happened."
The picturesque town of Winnenden, around 25km northeast of Stuttgart in Baden-Wuerttemberg, has around 27,000 inhabitants.
The school, which has 600 pupils, was part of a complex of several other schools with a total of 1700 students aged from six to 19.
It was one of the worst school shootings in Germany in recent years.
In April 2002, 19-year-old Robert Steinhaeuser, a disgruntled student from Erfurt in eastern Germany who had been expelled, killed 16 people before turning the gun on himself.
In November 2006, a former student at a vocational school in Lower Saxony in northwestern Germany went a shooting spree in the establishment, injuring 37 people before turning his gun on himself.
Friends described the German teenager who killed 15 people in a school shooting spree yesterday as a quiet boy with a liking for guns as mobile phone footage of his final moments emerged.
"We often practised with air pistols and airsoft [compressed air] guns in his father's cellar," a youth who identified himself as Dustin told n-tv television. "He always hit the bullseye."
Tim Kretschmer, a 17-year-old former pupil, killed himself after being cornered by police 40km from the shooting in the southwest town of Winnenden
The German teen grew up in a wealthy family.
"He got nearly everything he wanted," said Dustin. "He was quiet when he was at school and never went to parties. He had friends, but not many. They were interested in him only because he had money."
Police said the gunman stole the gun he used from his father, a member of a marksmen's club who kept 18 pistols and rifles at home, all but one of them locked in a safe.
Other acquaintances told the newspaper Die Welt that Kretschmer was a table tennis fan who had an arsenal of air guns and hundreds of horror films in his bedroom.
The owner of the marksmen's club frequented by Kretschmer and his father described them as kind people.
The son "was a good looking young man" who never touched alcohol when he was at the club, she said. "I'd never have dreamt he was capable of doing such a thing."
School bloodbath
Kretschmer, clad in black combat gear, went on a rampage at his old school in Germany yesterday before turning his gun on himself during a shootout with police.
He entered the secondary school in Winnenden near Stuttgart at 9.30am (7.30pm AEDT), killing nine pupils aged between 14 and 15 and three teachers in different classrooms with a handgun.
He wandered into several classrooms at the school he left last year, indiscriminately spraying bullets at teachers and students.
"He was constantly reloading his weapon," local police chief Konrad Gelden told reporters.
"He just opened the door, pulled out his gun and started shooting," one pupil said on German television. "One person saw someone shot in the head."
"My brother was in the classroom in which it happened," said another. "He was sitting next to his girlfriend and she was shot."
The German school shooting came just hours after a gunman went on the rampage in the southern US state of Alabama, killing 10 people before also turning the gun on himself.
Kretschmer went into classroom 10d three times, the Bild daily said on its website, hissing on the third visit: "Aren't you all dead yet?"
A teacher threw herself in front of a female pupil — and was shot by the gunman, Bild said.
Showdown with police
Police were alerted to the shootings within three minutes and dispatched two vehicles to the scene where they discovered the bodies of the pupils and three teachers — one of whom had only been working at the school for four weeks.
The 17-year-old then fled the Albertville-Realschule and went to a nearby psychiatric clinic where he shot dead a member of staff and stole a Volkswagen Sharan car. He then sped 40km to the town of Wendlingen.
(Read more: Students struggle to understand killings)
By this time a massive manhunt was underway, with hundreds of armed police commandos and snipers in black body armour on his trail, assisted by helicopters and dogs.
"The whole time police were on his trail," Gelden said.
Cornered in the car park of a shopping centre, a shootout between the teenager and the police ensued, in which two passers-by were killed.
Kretschmer turned his gun on himself after being wounded in the shootout, police said. (Watch more: Motive unknown)
"According to the latest police information, he was hit in an exchange of fire (with police) and then used his weapon on himself," police spokesman Fritz Mehl said.
Two policemen were seriously injured in the fire-fight but they were in a stable condition in hospital. Eight people were injured altogether.
The Bild daily said on its website that commandos had stormed the home of the teenager's parents, where 16 weapons were legally held — one of which the teenager used in his rampage, police said. He also took 50 bullets.
Speaking to reporters, the interior minister of Baden-Wuerttemberg state said there was nothing in the gunman's background to indicate that he held a grudge against the school.
"The gunman wanted to destroy an entire school," Heribert Rech said. "He was completely unremarkable, there was nothing in his background to suggest this could have happened."
The picturesque town of Winnenden, around 25km northeast of Stuttgart in Baden-Wuerttemberg, has around 27,000 inhabitants.
The school, which has 600 pupils, was part of a complex of several other schools with a total of 1700 students aged from six to 19.
It was one of the worst school shootings in Germany in recent years.
In April 2002, 19-year-old Robert Steinhaeuser, a disgruntled student from Erfurt in eastern Germany who had been expelled, killed 16 people before turning the gun on himself.
In November 2006, a former student at a vocational school in Lower Saxony in northwestern Germany went a shooting spree in the establishment, injuring 37 people before turning his gun on himself.