Another school shooting

[Leslie]

[ The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: 4/26/02 ]

18 dead as gunman opens fire in German high school

Associated Press

ERFURT, Germany -- An expelled student opened fire inside a school Friday in eastern Germany in a shooting spree that claimed at least 18 lives and wounded at least six others, police said.


AP
Journalists stand in front of the Johann Gutenberg high school in Erfurt, eastern Germany, where a recently expelled student opened fire inside a school Friday.





The 19-year-old former student, who was kicked out of school several weeks ago, was among those killed, who police said were mostly adults but included at least two children. Police commandos conducted a room-to-room search of the building, where at one point during the rampage students were trapped.

Police had initially said a second gunman was involved, but told a press conference later that could not be confirmed.

The shooting at the Johann Gutenberg Gymnasium recalled the April 1999 shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., which killed 12 students and a teacher. The two teenage gunmen, both students at the school, committed suicide.

Shocked students who fled the shooting reported seeing a man dressed all in black roaming the hallways with a gun.

"I heard shooting and thought it was a joke," said 13-year-old Melanie Steinbrueck, chocking back tears. "But then I saw a teacher dead in the hallway in front of Room 209 and a gunman in black carrying a weapon."

"The guy was dressed all in black -- gloves, cap, everything was black," said Juliane Blank, 13. "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," she said.

Outside the school, a police officer with a megaphone urged parents to register their children's names before leaving the scene. Groups of dazed and shocked students huddled in the street, hugging and crying.

A handwritten sign reading "HILFE" -- Help -- was pasted to a fourth-floor window and the face of a girl could be seen through the window in the classroom.

Police said they received a call at 11:05 a.m. from the school janitor, who said someone was shooting in the building. An initial team of officers arrived on the scene shortly after and entered the school. One of the policemen was among those killed.

Ambulances and police cars massed in front of the school, where several hundred children in grades five through 12 were in classes when the shooting began.

Sixth-grader Martin Streng said he was in math class when he heard gunfire coming from a classroom down the hall. As he and other students filed into the hallway to leave the building, they saw a man with a gun in the corridor behind them, Streng said.

It was Germany's second school shooting in recent months. In February, a 22-year-old German who had recently lost his job shot and killed two former bosses and his old high school's principal in a rampage outside Munich.

 

[Gato_Solo]

And the madness spreads.

 

[Mephisto]

Yeah, that's very bad!
Over here things like that were supposed to be very unlikely, not like in the States, where these human catastrophes happen quite frequently, compared to other countries. Maybe these guys in Erfurt were inspired by likewise crimes in the US.

 

[Mephisto]

Help!

 

[Gato_Solo]

Actually, those types of things don't happen that often in the US. In fact, statistically, they are most likely less than 5% of the population that's even involved in school shootings. Either way you look at it, though, it's a bad percentage...Imagine the headlines...

[/siz]

 

[Mephisto]

My god, when I posted first, I wasn't really aware of the scope of this shooting! Terrible, shocking, don't know what to say!
My further comment wasn't meant as a criticism of the US society.
I'm shocked by the the fact that the guy who did this was wearing black kind of ninja clothing.
That reminds me of that Leo Di Caprio movie that he withdrew after the Littleton shooting; he was wearing a black coat.
What you might not know, just today the German parliament deciced to tighten German anti-gun laws. What a terrible coincidence!

 

[Justintime]

geez that sucks man, makes one think about their own mortality.

 

[Professur]

Here come the gun-control advocates.

 

[Soler]

It's so sad to read about things like this.. it brings tears to my eyes. Madness, utter madness.

 

[Gato_Solo]

Germany already has some of the strictist gun laws in Europe. Making them more strict isn't going to stop how that particular gun got into Germany, however. I believe the article I read said something about guns being 'smuggled' in from the Balkans and Eastern Europe?

 

[Mephisto]

Originally posted by Professur
Here come the gun-control advocates.

What do you mean?

 

[Luis G]

I would post "ban gun", but i don't know if there's illegal to own a gun in Germany, is it Mephisto?

 

[Luis G]

Mephisto: i guess he was talking about other members that share my opinion (ban guns).

The school shooting subject always brings up some sort of discussion about if it is good or bad that the goverment allow people to buy/own guns legally.

 

[Gato_Solo]

It is legal to own a gun in Germany, but they have a background check that can last a whole year...and you'd do better to belong to a 'gun club'...

 

[Luis G]

Ohhhhh i c, that makes my position stronger, ban guns.

 

[Mephisto]

I don't understand what Professur was trying to say. Anti-gun laws are already quite strong in Germany. Was he trying to be sarcastic? Don't know, fact is obviously that anti-gun laws don't prevent all potentially violent ppl from acting violently, I know that, no need to stress that very old discussion.

 

[kuulani]

People are losing it more and more

 

[nalani]

there are no words ...



blessings to their families ... and all affected

 

[Guest]

This world ain't getting any better. That's for sure.

 

[sbcanada]

Gun laws in Canada are extremely tight. You have to register every firearm, you have to have a license for the firearm, you need another license to buy ammo. You don't hear of many school shootings in Canada, although one happened in Alberta shortly after the one in Columbine one in Colorado, but it wasn't nearly as bad.

The right to arms is part of the American constitution, it's been there for a long, long time. The government at the time probably was worried of a British invasion and therefore encouraged Americans to own guns in order to fight them off. (I learned that in Social 20 in high school, if it's not correct, I'll give you the number for my teacher and you give HIM shit).