German School Rampage

[Tom]

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/WORLD/europe/03/11/germany.school.shooting/t1wide.tears.gi.jpg (http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/03/11/germany.school.shooting/index.html)


WINNENDEN, Germany (CNN) -- A gunman dressed in military gear killed 15 people Wednesday in a shooting spree in Germany, police said.

Tim Kretschmer, 17, began his rampage at a school where he used to be a student in Winnenden, a small town about 20 kilometers (12 miles) northeast of Stuttgart.

Most of the victims at the school were female -- eight female students, three female teachers and one male student, said Heribert Rech, interior minister for Baden Wuerttemberg region.

Rech said: "They were completely taken by surprise. Some of the victims still had their pens in their hands."

Kretschmer opened fire in three first floor classrooms, including a physics lab where a teacher was found dead behind her desk, Rech told a news conference.

Rech said police arrived in minutes. "This speedy intervention means they prevented further escalation of events."

The shooting at the Albertville-Realschule Winnenden school began around 9:45 a.m. (4:45 a.m. EDT) and lasted about two minutes.

One student told CNN: "We heard that someone was inside shooting. Then we also saw a teacher who had blood on his hands because he wanted to help a female teacher who sacrificed herself for a student -- she stood in front of a student to protect her."

Kretschmer did not shoot wildly, Rech said, contradicting earlier police statements, but hit most of his victims in the head.

As the first police arrived at the school, he fled and killed a person working in a hospital nearby, then hijacked a car, taking the driver hostage.

He drove towards the nearby town of Wendlingen, but the car crashed on a sharp bend, Rech said.

The driver escaped and called police as Kretschmer ran away and towards a car salesroom in Wendlingen where he shot a salesperson and a customer, Rech said.

[Full Story] (http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/03/11/germany.school.shooting/index.html) [Photos] (http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/03/11/germany.school.shooting/index.html#cnnSTCPhoto) [Video] (http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/03/11/germany.school.shooting/index.html#cnnSTCVideo) [Map] (http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/03/11/germany.school.shooting/index.html#cnnSTCOther1)School shootings are becoming an all-to-common event in our World. School should be a safe place for kids, but as shown in events like this in the past, they are anything but.

My prayers go out the victim's families.

[Jeebus]

That's really sad. Especially the part about the teacher sacrificing her life for the student. There's been a really lot of shootings lately.

[Samwesty999]

Thats sounds really terrible. The way he just killed innocent civilians like that, including teenagers who have their whole lives ahead of them. It just makes me sick and I hope that (insert bad word here) goes straight to hell. I also got choked up by hearing the teacher sacrificed herself for a student, what a brave thing to do.

[.:Berz:.]

Oh my gosh, that is horrible....=_=" that was very cruel and unesesary.....and whats with all these forigen countries and school shooting? because the same thing happened to a Finnish school.....My Prayers Also Go Out To The Victims Families...=_="

[Snoopy4life]

*sigh* This world is too depressing now a-days. May God bless the victim's families.

[Tina]

I heard about this. It's sad. School's are often a tight knit place, and when something like this happens, its devastating.

The part about the teacher sacrificing herself for a student, is really sad. But, it shows you how close to their students/protective some teachers are...

[Yoki]

My best wishes go out to the families of the students that were killed. It's impossible to describe what that teacher did by sacrificing her life.

I guess this pretty much goes to show that your life can be taken just like that. Even when you think your safe, you're really not.

[phenom21]

There's been a lot of school shootings and shootings in general. Why do they have to do these things? Sheesh, you can't be safe anywhere. R.I.P.

[Detonate!]

School shootings are becoming an all-to-common event in our World. School should be a safe place for kids, but as shown in events like this in the past, they are anything but.

My prayers go out the victim's families.

Why can't you post a happy article for once?Ugh...this is becoming a far too common thing.
R.I.P

[link4562]

Oh Nein! Nicht meine Deutsch relatives!. My ancestry is mostly German, and I still have distant relatives in Germany.

[neo789]

Reminds me of the Columbine shooting in Colorado. :(

May God be with the families who lost someone in that shooting.

[Tom]

Why can't you post a happy article for once?Ugh...this is becoming a far too common thing.
R.I.P

I have. I've actually been holding off on posting the sad news articles. :rolleyes:

[Butters]

I have. I've actually been holding off on posting the sad news articles. :rolleyes:

I think the sadder ones are more interesting and give us more of the real world because it is LIFE.

[Anvar]

I hope best wishes to them and wish them to be strong at this moment.


This is becoming far too usual. Most of the shootings happen at USA by the way. It's time to understand that selling weapons like toys is not going to end well. I know that taking away weapons from USA is like taking away Teatime in UK, but I think that buying a weapon should be more difficult.

[Agent Pointy]

This kind of thing is the reason I got scared out of my mind yesterday, I was in one of the science labs at school, and suddenly from the class next door we hear these giant bangs and screaming, so obviously I'm sitting there thinking 'Holy crap!'
We dound out they were doing an experiment:rolleyes:

I feel for those families, and send them my prayers in this difficult time.