Eppstein school shooting
Encyclopedia
The Eppstein school shooting was a school shooting that occurred on June 3, 1983, at the Freiherr-vom-Stein Gesamtschule in Eppstein-Vockenhausen
, Germany
. The gunman, 34-year-old Czech refugee
Karel Charva, fatally shot three students, a teacher and a police officer and injured another 14 people using two semi-automatic pistols, before committing suicide
.
The shooting remains the fourth-deadliest of its kind in post-war
Germany, after the Erfurt massacre
in 2002, the Winnenden school shooting
in 2009, and the Cologne school massacre
in 1964.
panel van
at a car rental agency
in Frankfurt am Main and is supposed to have driven through the area in search for a school that gave lessons that day, as many were closed due to a holiday. Thus, it is assumed, it was pure chance that he ended up at the Freiherr-vom-Stein Gesamtschule in Eppstein, about 30 kilometers from Frankfurt.
Charva parked his car near the school, and, leaving 160 rounds of ammunition, a bag and handcuffs behind, entered the building with two semi-automatic pistols, a 9mm Smith & Wesson Model 59 and a 7,65mm-caliber Astra, as well as seven additional magazines.
At about 10:45 a.m. he came to room 213, where Franz-Adolf Gelhaar taught English to a sixth grade class. Charva fired a shot at Gelhaar, missing him, and immediately retreated out of the classroom, just to reenter. When Gelhaar confronted the gunman, telling him not to shoot the children, but taking him instead, he fired seven shots at the teacher, hitting him in the stomach, face and left arm. As soon as Gelhaar lay on the floor gravely wounded, Charva began shooting the children, killing three of them and wounding another 13, four of them critically. Alarmed by the gunshots teacher Hans-Peter Schmitt rushed into the classroom, trying to help, but was also shot and killed, as was Gisbert Beck, an unarmed police officer who was at the school instructing students in traffic safety.
When police arrived at the scene they tried to calm Charva down, but the gunman simply yelled at them and continued shooting. At about 11:15 a.m. Charva retreated into a classroom opposite the English class where the attack began and committed suicide by shooting himself in the mouth. The autopsy of his body later showed that he had acted under the influence of alcohol.
In all Charva had fired about forty shots, killed 5 people and injured another 14. Additionally 30 children suffered from shock.
Initially there was some confusion, if Charva might have known the wounded teacher, as shortly before the shooting started someone had asked for Gelhaar, though it was later found that the person was not the gunman.
Karel Charva, a native from Prague
, Czechoslovakia
and follower of Alexander Dubček
, fled to Germany in 1968 when the Soviet-led intervention ended the Prague Spring
. After living in a camp at Zirndorf
for a while he was finally granted the status of a political refugee in 1971. Stating he was a psychologist
and wanted to become a teacher Charva moved to Mörfelden-Walldorf
and later to Darmstadt
, where he began working as taxicab driver for a Frankfurt
cab company. In 1976 he was arrested and convicted for loosening the nuts
on the front wheels of two cars. Though the motives behind this deed are unknown, it was suggested that it might have been politically motivated.
Living in Frankfurt since 1981, where he found a job as security guard
, Charva was known by his neighbours as a loner and very reserved person, who spent whole nights typing on his typewriter
and studying chemistry and mathematics, apparently to become a teacher. He was also a member of a local gun club
and legally purchased the two weapons used in the shooting in 1981. In the last weeks of his life he was described as increasingly aggressive.
The motive behind Charva's shooting remains unknown, though it was speculated that pent-up anger and frustration about failing to bring his aspiring attempts to qualify as a teacher to fruition could have been a cause.
Eppstein
Eppstein is a town in the Main-Taunus-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany.-Geographical situation:Eppstein lies west of Frankfurt am Main, around 12 km north east of the state capital Wiesbaden, and is at the edge of the Taunus mountains....
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. The gunman, 34-year-old Czech refugee
Refugee
A refugee is a person who outside her country of origin or habitual residence because she has suffered persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or because she is a member of a persecuted 'social group'. Such a person may be referred to as an 'asylum seeker' until...
Karel Charva, fatally shot three students, a teacher and a police officer and injured another 14 people using two semi-automatic pistols, before committing suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
.
The shooting remains the fourth-deadliest of its kind in post-war
Post-war
A post-war period or postwar period is the interval immediately following the ending of a war and enduring as long as war does not resume. A post-war period can become an interwar period or interbellum when a war between the same parties resumes at a later date...
Germany, after the Erfurt massacre
Erfurt massacre
The Erfurt massacre was a school massacre that occurred on April 26, 2002 at the Gutenberg-Gymnasium in Erfurt, Germany. The gunman, 19-year-old expelled student Robert Steinhäuser, shot and killed sixteen people; comprising 13 faculty members, 2 students, and one police officer, before committing...
in 2002, the Winnenden school shooting
Winnenden school shooting
The Winnenden school shooting occurred on the morning of 11 March 2009 at a secondary school in Winnenden, Baden-Württemberg, in southwestern Germany, followed by a shootout at a car dealership in nearby Wendlingen. The shooting spree resulted in 16 deaths, including the suicide of the perpetrator,...
in 2009, and the Cologne school massacre
Cologne School Massacre
The Cologne school massacre occurred in a Catholic elementary school located at Volkhovener Weg 209 in the suburb of Volkhoven in Cologne, Germany on June 11, 1964. Walter Seifert, born on June 11, 1922, killed eight students and two teachers....
in 1964.
Shooting
At about 7:20 a.m. Charva rented a VWVolkswagen
Volkswagen is a German automobile manufacturer and is the original and biggest-selling marque of the Volkswagen Group, which now also owns the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, SEAT, and Škoda marques and the truck manufacturer Scania.Volkswagen means "people's car" in German, where it is...
panel van
Panel van
A panel van is a form of solid van, smaller than a lorry or truck, without rear side windows...
at a car rental agency
Car rental
A car rental or car hire agency is a company that rents automobiles for short periods of time for a fee...
in Frankfurt am Main and is supposed to have driven through the area in search for a school that gave lessons that day, as many were closed due to a holiday. Thus, it is assumed, it was pure chance that he ended up at the Freiherr-vom-Stein Gesamtschule in Eppstein, about 30 kilometers from Frankfurt.
Charva parked his car near the school, and, leaving 160 rounds of ammunition, a bag and handcuffs behind, entered the building with two semi-automatic pistols, a 9mm Smith & Wesson Model 59 and a 7,65mm-caliber Astra, as well as seven additional magazines.
At about 10:45 a.m. he came to room 213, where Franz-Adolf Gelhaar taught English to a sixth grade class. Charva fired a shot at Gelhaar, missing him, and immediately retreated out of the classroom, just to reenter. When Gelhaar confronted the gunman, telling him not to shoot the children, but taking him instead, he fired seven shots at the teacher, hitting him in the stomach, face and left arm. As soon as Gelhaar lay on the floor gravely wounded, Charva began shooting the children, killing three of them and wounding another 13, four of them critically. Alarmed by the gunshots teacher Hans-Peter Schmitt rushed into the classroom, trying to help, but was also shot and killed, as was Gisbert Beck, an unarmed police officer who was at the school instructing students in traffic safety.
When police arrived at the scene they tried to calm Charva down, but the gunman simply yelled at them and continued shooting. At about 11:15 a.m. Charva retreated into a classroom opposite the English class where the attack began and committed suicide by shooting himself in the mouth. The autopsy of his body later showed that he had acted under the influence of alcohol.
In all Charva had fired about forty shots, killed 5 people and injured another 14. Additionally 30 children suffered from shock.
Initially there was some confusion, if Charva might have known the wounded teacher, as shortly before the shooting started someone had asked for Gelhaar, though it was later found that the person was not the gunman.
Victims
The five people killed by Charva are:- Stephanie Hermann, 12
- Javier Martinez, 11
- Gabriele Siebert, 12
- Hans-Peter Schmitt, 36, teacher
- Gisbert Beck, 45, police officer
Perpetrator
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
and follower of Alexander Dubček
Alexander Dubcek
Alexander Dubček , also known as Dikita, was a Slovak politician and briefly leader of Czechoslovakia , famous for his attempt to reform the communist regime during the Prague Spring...
, fled to Germany in 1968 when the Soviet-led intervention ended the Prague Spring
Prague Spring
The Prague Spring was a period of political liberalization in Czechoslovakia during the era of its domination by the Soviet Union after World War II...
. After living in a camp at Zirndorf
Zirndorf
Zirndorf is a town, which is part of the district of Fürth. It is located in northern Bavaria, Germany in the Regierungsbezirk of Middle Franconia.-Neighbouring municipalities:...
for a while he was finally granted the status of a political refugee in 1971. Stating he was a psychologist
Psychologist
Psychologist is a professional or academic title used by individuals who are either:* Clinical professionals who work with patients in a variety of therapeutic contexts .* Scientists conducting psychological research or teaching psychology in a college...
and wanted to become a teacher Charva moved to Mörfelden-Walldorf
Mörfelden-Walldorf
Mörfelden-Walldorf is a town in the Groß-Gerau district, situated in the Frankfurt Rhein-Main Region in Hessen, Germany.- Location :Mörfelden-Walldorf is situated within a triangle formed by the South Hessian cities of Frankfurt am Main, Darmstadt and Wiesbaden, near Frankfurt International...
and later to Darmstadt
Darmstadt
Darmstadt is a city in the Bundesland of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine Main Area.The sandy soils in the Darmstadt area, ill-suited for agriculture in times before industrial fertilisation, prevented any larger settlement from developing, until the city became the seat...
, where he began working as taxicab driver for a Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
cab company. In 1976 he was arrested and convicted for loosening the nuts
Nut (hardware)
A nut is a type of hardware fastener with a threaded hole. Nuts are almost always used opposite a mating bolt to fasten a stack of parts together. The two partners are kept together by a combination of their threads' friction, a slight stretch of the bolt, and compression of the parts...
on the front wheels of two cars. Though the motives behind this deed are unknown, it was suggested that it might have been politically motivated.
Living in Frankfurt since 1981, where he found a job as security guard
Security guard
A security guard is a person who is paid to protect property, assets, or people. Security guards are usually privately and formally employed personnel...
, Charva was known by his neighbours as a loner and very reserved person, who spent whole nights typing on his typewriter
Typewriter
A typewriter is a mechanical or electromechanical device with keys that, when pressed, cause characters to be printed on a medium, usually paper. Typically one character is printed per keypress, and the machine prints the characters by making ink impressions of type elements similar to the pieces...
and studying chemistry and mathematics, apparently to become a teacher. He was also a member of a local gun club
Schützenverein
A Schützenverein is in German language countries a voluntary association featuring sport-shooting either on Olympic levels or historic weapons....
and legally purchased the two weapons used in the shooting in 1981. In the last weeks of his life he was described as increasingly aggressive.
The motive behind Charva's shooting remains unknown, though it was speculated that pent-up anger and frustration about failing to bring his aspiring attempts to qualify as a teacher to fruition could have been a cause.
See also
- Bremen school shootingBremen school shootingThe Bremen school shooting was a school shooting that occurred on June 20, 1913 at St. Mary's Catholic School in Walle, a quarter of Bremen, Germany...
- Cologne school massacreCologne School MassacreThe Cologne school massacre occurred in a Catholic elementary school located at Volkhovener Weg 209 in the suburb of Volkhoven in Cologne, Germany on June 11, 1964. Walter Seifert, born on June 11, 1922, killed eight students and two teachers....
- Erfurt massacreErfurt massacreThe Erfurt massacre was a school massacre that occurred on April 26, 2002 at the Gutenberg-Gymnasium in Erfurt, Germany. The gunman, 19-year-old expelled student Robert Steinhäuser, shot and killed sixteen people; comprising 13 faculty members, 2 students, and one police officer, before committing...
- Winnenden school shootingWinnenden school shootingThe Winnenden school shooting occurred on the morning of 11 March 2009 at a secondary school in Winnenden, Baden-Württemberg, in southwestern Germany, followed by a shootout at a car dealership in nearby Wendlingen. The shooting spree resulted in 16 deaths, including the suicide of the perpetrator,...
- Emsdetten school shootingEmsdetten school shootingOn 20 November 2006, at about 9:30 AM local time, an 18 year old former student born 29 April 1988 graduate of 2005, entered the Geschwister Scholl School , firing several shots and setting off smoke grenades. He shot the school janitor and four students and wounded a teacher by throwing a smoke...
- Ansbach school attackAnsbach school attackThe Ansbach school attack occurred on 17 September 2009, at the Carolinum Gynmasium in Ansbach, Germany. The attacker Georg R., a 19-year-old man whom the BBC reports as a former student, entered the school that morning armed with petrol bombs and an axe....
External links
- Madman opens fire in school, kills five, Wilmington Morning Star (June 4, 1983)
- West Germans hold memorial for school shooting victims, The LedgerThe LedgerThe Ledger is a daily newspaper serving Lakeland, Florida and the Polk County area. It is owned by The New York Times Company. Jerome Ferson became publisher of the newspaper on July 30, 2007....
(June 9, 1983) - Gunman kills 5, self, at school in Germany, Pittsburgh Post-GazettePittsburgh Post-GazetteThe Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, also known simply as the "PG," is the largest daily newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.-Early history:...
(June 4, 1983) - 5 die as gunman blasts schoolroom, Ocala Star-Banner (June 4, 1983)
- Police say attacker knew teacher, Ocala Star-Banner (June 5, 1983)
- Six die in school shooting, The Gainesville SunThe Gainesville SunThe Gainesville Sun is a newspaper published daily in Gainesville, Florida, United States, covering the North-Central portion of the state. It is a part of the New York Times Regional Media Group. The paper is published by James E...
(June 4, 1983) - Classroom shooting spree: man a recluse, New Straits TimesNew Straits TimesThe New Straits Times is an English-language newspaper published in Malaysia. It is Malaysia's oldest newspaper still in print , having been founded as The Straits Times in 1845, and was reestablished as the "New Straits Times" in 1965. The paper served as Malaysia's only broadsheet format English...
(June 7, 1983)