RE: Germany

POst 30 right on the money!

Germany

ERFURT, Germany — Eighteen people are dead — including two children — after a recently-expelled pupil went on the rampage with a gun at a high school in Germany before killing himself.

Two young girl pupils, 14 teachers, a police officer and the gunman died at Gutenberg Gymnasium School in the eastern German city of Erfurt.

The gunman, dressed all in black, stalked the corridors, rooms and toilets of the school, seeking out adults and then gunning them down, police chief Manfred Grube told a news conference.

Describing the scene as a “picture of horror,” Grube said the 19-year-old gunman fled German special forces as they stormed the building, and shot himself in a classroom.

“I heard shooting and thought it was a joke,” Melanie Steinbrueck, 13, told The Associated Press. “But then I saw a teacher dead in the hallway in front of Room 209 and a gunman in black carrying a weapon.” (More eyewitness accounts)

Juliane Blank, 13, added: “The guy was dressed all in black — gloves, cap, everything was black.

“He must have opened the door without being heard and forced his way into the classroom. We ran out into the hallways. We just wanted to get out.”

“It was chilling. I saw this big placard with the word “Help” on it taped to a window and people moving around behind it, but I couldn’t tell if they were children or attackers,” a witness told German broadcaster RTL.

A room-by-room search of the school was carried out following reports a second gunman was involved in the shooting, but police believe the gunman acted alone and was spotted by different pupils as he moved to various areas of the school.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said he was “staggered” by the shooting, and cancelled an election campaign planned to begin on Saturday. “It is such an event our imagination is incapable of dealing with it,” he said.

Students, parents and members of staff hugged each other outside the school, weeping hysterically in the aftermath of the shooting.

People inside the building put up a notice asking for help
Six people were injured and scores are being treated for shock by doctors and pyschologists.

The dead police officer was shot earlier before the school was stormed, police told CNN.

Hundreds of armed police wearing bulletproof vests sealed off the building. A tent has been set up nearby where parents were being informed of the whereabouts of their children.

A police official said the disgruntled student began shooting with a handgun and a pump action weapon at around 11 a.m. local time (0900 GMT).

About 750 students aged between 10 and 19 are enrolled at the school, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in December.

The shooting coincided with a debate in the German parliament on Friday on tightening gun control legislation, Reuters news agency reports.

Germany already has strict laws governing the right to a gun, but experts say the country is awash with illegal weapons smuggled into the country from eastern Europe and the Balkans.

People wanting to buy a hunting rifle must undergo checks that can last a year, while those wanting a gun for sport must be a member of a club and obtain a licence from the police.

Erfurt, a town of nearly 200,000 people in former communist East Germany, was founded in the 13th century and was once home to theologian Martin Luther.

In February, a 22-year-old German who recently lost his job shot and killed two former bosses and his old high school’s principal in a rampage outside Munich.

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Need I say more???