Winnenden school shooting
Encyclopedia
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, 17-year-old Tim Kretschmer, who had graduated from the school one year earlier. Another 11 persons were injured during the incident.
at approximately 9:30 a.m. (CET
), Tim Kretschmer first began shooting with a 9mm Beretta semi-automatic pistol
which he had taken from his parents' bedroom. Eyewitness reports state that Kretschmer started on the first upstairs floor where he made a beeline for two top-floor classrooms and a chemistry laboratory. In these two classrooms Kretschmer killed nine students (eight female and one male, 14–16 years old) and a female teacher. He shot most of his victims in the head. Kretschmer fired more than 60 rounds at the school. Because the majority of the victims were female, some speculated that Kretschmer specifically targeted females.
The school headmaster broadcast a coded announcement ("Mrs Koma is coming", which is amok spelled backwards) alerting the teachers of the situation and causing them to lock classroom doors. This coded alert had been used by German educators after the Erfurt school massacre
in April 2002.
After receiving an emergency call from a student at 09:33 a.m. local time, three police officers reached the scene two minutes later and entered the school, interrupting the shooting spree. Kretschmer shot at them and fled the building, killing two female teachers in the hall as he departed.
At approximately 10:00, the gunman carjacked a Volkswagen Sharan
minivan at a car park in Winnenden. From his position on the rear seat, the gunman ordered the driver Igor Wolf to drive towards Wendlingen
, 40 km (24.9 mi) from Winnenden. The drive first took the gunman and the driver westwards into the suburbs of Stuttgart
, the Baden-Württemberg
state capital, travelling through the towns and districts of Waiblingen
, Fellbach
and Bad Cannstatt before driving on the B14 dual carriageway
through the Heslach Tunnel onto the A81 autobahn motorway towards Böblingen
and Tübingen
. The two then drove onto the B27 dual carriageway before leaving on the B313 to Nürtingen
.
Igor Wolf later reported that, when asked why he did this, the gunman replied "For fun, because it is fun." ("Aus Spaß, weil es Spaß macht.“) According to Wolf, the gunman also revealed his intentions as he was loading his pistol magazines during the ride: "Do you think we will still find another school?" ("Meinst du, wir finden noch eine andere Schule?"). Wolf says he quickly changed the conversation then.
Shortly after 12:00 p.m, just before the Wendlinger junction to the A8 autobahn, the hostage steered the car onto the grass verge and jumped from the vehicle towards a police patrol car
.
car showroom through the main entrance. Here he threatened a salesperson and demanded a key for one of the vehicles. The salesperson managed to escape while the gunman was distracted. The gunman then shot and killed one of the other salespersons and a customer, firing 13 bullets into both people. As he reloaded, another salesperson and visitor fled through the rear exit. The gunman emerged at about 12:30 and shot at a passing car. The driver escaped without injury. The police started to arrive and a shootout began. An officer fired 8 shots at the gunman, hitting him once in each leg.
The gunman returned to the car showroom, firing 12 shots from within the building at police from nearby Nürtingen
who were gradually surrounding the building. He then left the rear of the building and ran across a yard to a neighbouring business complex where he shot and injured two police officers in an unmarked police vehicle.
According to police reports, at this point Kretschmer continued to shoot at random, shooting at nearby buildings and people. Witnesses then describe observing the gunman as he reloaded his pistol before shooting himself in the head. The final seconds of the shootout were captured with a cell phone video camera.
According to forensic evidence, during the whole shooting spree the gunman fired a total of 112 rounds.
, and graduated from Albertville Realschule
in 2008 with relatively poor grades.
His failing grades had prevented him from an apprenticeship
so he attended a commercial high school (Donner + Kern) in Waiblingen
as a preparation for an apprenticeship for a commercial career. Kretschmer was described by a friend as "a lonely and frustrated person who felt rejected by society". An anonymous friend described Kretschmer as a quiet student who began to withdraw from his peers.
He was an avid table tennis
player and had hoped to become a professional player. Marko Habijanec, a Croatian table tennis player who coached Kretschmer at the Erdmannhausen sports club between 2000 and 2003, remembers him as being "a bit spoiled", his mother fulfilling many of his demands. According to Habijanec, Kretschmer had great difficulties accepting defeat: he would have a temper tantrum
, yelling and throwing his racket. Having a high opinion of his own abilities, Kretschmer openly denigrated his teammates. When Habijanec discussed Tim's attitude with his mother, he was at disbelief to discover her siding fully with her son.
Media reports say he enjoyed playing the video game Counter-Strike
and playing with airsoft
guns. However, commentators also noted that "game addiction is a symptom of something wrong and not a cause". He also shot his guns in the forest behind his home and also in the basement of his house. On his last day alive he played the video game Far Cry 2
online as "JawsPredator1".
He had profiles at "MyVideo
.de", Kwick.de and other websites. He often played poker with his classmates in the "Cafe Tunix" after school hours in Waiblingen.
After inspection of his computer, officers found that he was interested in sadomasochistic scenes where a man is bound and humiliated by women. He also viewed such a movie the evening before the crime.
Kretschmer did not have a criminal record. The press reported that in 2008, Kretschmer had received treatment as an in-patient at the Weissenhoff Psychiatric Clinic near the town of Heilbronn
and that after being discharged, Kretschmer was supposed to continue his treatment as an out-patient in Winnenden
, but ended his treatment.
According to police and clinic staff, he had been treated repeatedly for clinical depression
on an out-patient basis in 2008. His family rejected these claims and maintained that he never received psychiatric treatment. According to a psychiatric report prepared for the prosecutor's office, Kretschmer met five times with a therapist and talked about his growing anger and violent urges; the therapist then informed Kretschmer's parents.
In a press conference on March 12, police reported that Kretschmer had announced his killing spree several hours ahead of time on the internet chatroom. The next day, police determined that this message had in fact not been written on Kretschmer's computer and was a forgery.
Three weeks before the shooting he had written a letter to his parents, saying that he was suffering and couldn't go on.
The incident occurred merely one day after the Geneva County massacre
in Alabama. It was considered that the events in Geneva County triggered the Winnenden shooting, yet that hypothesis could not be proven right or wrong.
" in German). One 9 mm Beretta
handgun was found missing along with several hundred rounds of ammunition. Fourteen of the guns were kept in a gun safe
, while the Beretta had been kept unsecured in the bedroom.
Five days after the event, prosecutors initiated preliminary proceedings against the father for negligent homicide
since the gun had not been properly locked away as required by law. The 14 remaining guns were confiscated, and the father announced that he would voluntarily relinquish his gun ownership authorization.
In November 2009, the Public Prosecutor's Department in Stuttgart announced that the father had been indicted on charges of negligent homicide, bodily injury caused by negligence, and violation of the weapons law.
On 10 February 2011, the state court in Stuttgart found the father guilty of involuntary manslaughter in 15 cases, bodily harm caused by negligence and the negligent abandonment of a weapon. The father received a suspended sentence of one year and nine months and appealed the verdict.
said he was "appalled and saddened" by the killings. Köhler and his wife expressed their condolences to the victims and their families and friends. Chancellor Angela Merkel
described the shootings as "incomprehensible". "It is unimaginable that in just seconds, pupils and teachers were killed - it is an appalling crime," she told reporters. "This is a day of mourning for the whole of Germany," she continued. Baden-Württemberg Minister-President Günther Oettinger
travelled to the scene of the crime by helicopter shortly after the news broke. Oettinger spoke of a "horrible and in no way explainable crime". He also expressed his condolences to the victims, students and families. "This has touched all of Baden-Württemberg. The school, the town, the future, education, and raising children - to destroy these things like that is especially cruel." The European Parliament
held a minute of silence to honour the dead.
An ecumenical
Church service was held in Winnenden the evening of the shooting, attended by a Protestant, a Catholic, and a Muslim cleric. All German flags were flown on half-staff
until 13 March, in memorial of the victims.
In the days following the event, some politicians called for legal consequences, including a total prohibition of all shooting video games, better monitoring of gun club members, a directive to have all ammunition deposited with police, and a provision to have gun club members store their weapons at the club house. Others dismissed such demands as mere "placebos".
The families of five victims wrote an open letter to Chancellor Angela Merkel, President Horst Köhler, and Baden-Württemberg Minister President Günther Oettinger
with demands for consequences. They called for a prohibition on youths' access to guns in gun clubs, less violence on TV, and a prohibition of violent video games. They also called for reporting of these incidents without highlighting the perpetrator, so as to minimize the chance of copycats.
In May 2009, Germany announced plans to ban games such as paintball
on the grounds that they "trivialise and encourage violence".
The German government passed legislation in June to improve handgun security with an electronic nation-wide weapons registry, increased age limitations for large-calibre weapons as well as unannounced, random inspections in gun-owner homes. Obligatory biometric security systems should be introduced once technically feasible. A ban on fighting games such as Paintball, Gotcha and Laserdrome was not passed and neither was a limitation on the number of guns owned nor an obligation to store guns with shooting clubs.
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
in Winnenden
Winnenden
Winnenden is a small town in the Rems-Murr district of the Stuttgart Region in Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany. It lies in a wine-growing area approx. northeast of Stuttgart and has a population of less than 28,000...
, Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...
, in southwestern 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...
, followed by a shootout at a car dealership in nearby Wendlingen
Wendlingen
Wendlingen is a town in the district of Esslingen in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is situated on the Neckar and Lauter rivers, 27 km southeast of Stuttgart.-International relations:...
. The shooting spree resulted in 16 deaths, including the suicide of the perpetrator, 17-year-old Tim Kretschmer, who had graduated from the school one year earlier. Another 11 persons were injured during the incident.
The shootings
Albertville school shooting
In the Albertville-RealschuleAlbertville-Realschule
The Albertville-Realschule is one of seven secondary schools and one of the two Realschules in Winnenden in the Rems-Murr-Kreis in Baden-Württemberg...
at approximately 9:30 a.m. (CET
Central European Time
Central European Time , used in most parts of the European Union, is a standard time that is 1 hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time . The time offset from UTC can be written as +01:00...
), Tim Kretschmer first began shooting with a 9mm Beretta semi-automatic pistol
Pistol
When distinguished as a subset of handguns, a pistol is a handgun with a chamber that is integral with the barrel, as opposed to a revolver, wherein the chamber is separate from the barrel as a revolving cylinder. Typically, pistols have an effective range of about 100 feet.-History:The pistol...
which he had taken from his parents' bedroom. Eyewitness reports state that Kretschmer started on the first upstairs floor where he made a beeline for two top-floor classrooms and a chemistry laboratory. In these two classrooms Kretschmer killed nine students (eight female and one male, 14–16 years old) and a female teacher. He shot most of his victims in the head. Kretschmer fired more than 60 rounds at the school. Because the majority of the victims were female, some speculated that Kretschmer specifically targeted females.
The school headmaster broadcast a coded announcement ("Mrs Koma is coming", which is amok spelled backwards) alerting the teachers of the situation and causing them to lock classroom doors. This coded alert had been used by German educators after the Erfurt school 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 April 2002.
After receiving an emergency call from a student at 09:33 a.m. local time, three police officers reached the scene two minutes later and entered the school, interrupting the shooting spree. Kretschmer shot at them and fled the building, killing two female teachers in the hall as he departed.
Escape and carjacking
Kretschmer fled the scene and killed a 56-year-old janitor (caretaker) of a nearby psychiatric hospital in the park. Large numbers of police officers secured the school building and searched for Kretschmer throughout Winnenden for hours without success.At approximately 10:00, the gunman carjacked a Volkswagen Sharan
Volkswagen Sharan
The Volkswagen Sharan is a large MPV produced by the German automaker Volkswagen since 1995.-First generation :The name Sharan is derived from a Persian word meaning "Carrier of Kings"....
minivan at a car park in Winnenden. From his position on the rear seat, the gunman ordered the driver Igor Wolf to drive towards Wendlingen
Wendlingen
Wendlingen is a town in the district of Esslingen in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is situated on the Neckar and Lauter rivers, 27 km southeast of Stuttgart.-International relations:...
, 40 km (24.9 mi) from Winnenden. The drive first took the gunman and the driver westwards into the suburbs of Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
, the Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...
state capital, travelling through the towns and districts of Waiblingen
Waiblingen
Waiblingen is a town in the southwest of Germany, located in the center of the densely populated Stuttgart Region, directly neighboring Stuttgart. It is the capital of the Rems-Murr district...
, Fellbach
Fellbach
Fellbach is a mid-sized town on the north-east Border of Stuttgart in Baden-Württemberg. With a population of approximately 43,700 as of December 2003 it is the second largest town in the District Rems-Murr-Kreis. The area of the town is 27.7 km²....
and Bad Cannstatt before driving on the B14 dual carriageway
Dual carriageway
A dual carriageway is a class of highway with two carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation...
through the Heslach Tunnel onto the A81 autobahn motorway towards Böblingen
Böblingen
Böblingen is a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, seat of Böblingen District. Physically Sindelfingen and Böblingen are continuous.-History:Böblingen was founded by Count Wilhelm von Tübingen-Böblingen in 1253. Württemberg acquired the town in 1357, and on 12 May 1525 one of the bloodiest battles...
and Tübingen
Tübingen
Tübingen is a traditional university town in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, on a ridge between the Neckar and Ammer rivers.-Geography:...
. The two then drove onto the B27 dual carriageway before leaving on the B313 to Nürtingen
Nürtingen
Nürtingen is a town in the district of Esslingen in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is located on the river Neckar.-History:The following events occurred, by year:*1046 : First mention of Niuritingin in the document of Speyer...
.
Igor Wolf later reported that, when asked why he did this, the gunman replied "For fun, because it is fun." ("Aus Spaß, weil es Spaß macht.“) According to Wolf, the gunman also revealed his intentions as he was loading his pistol magazines during the ride: "Do you think we will still find another school?" ("Meinst du, wir finden noch eine andere Schule?"). Wolf says he quickly changed the conversation then.
Shortly after 12:00 p.m, just before the Wendlinger junction to the A8 autobahn, the hostage steered the car onto the grass verge and jumped from the vehicle towards a police patrol car
Police car
A police car is a ground vehicle used by police, to assist with their duties in patrolling and responding to incidents. Typical uses of a police car include transportation for officers to reach the scene of an incident quickly, to transport criminal suspects, or to patrol an area, while providing a...
.
Wendlingen shootout
The gunman immediately left the car and ran towards the nearby industrial area, entering a VolkswagenVolkswagen
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...
car showroom through the main entrance. Here he threatened a salesperson and demanded a key for one of the vehicles. The salesperson managed to escape while the gunman was distracted. The gunman then shot and killed one of the other salespersons and a customer, firing 13 bullets into both people. As he reloaded, another salesperson and visitor fled through the rear exit. The gunman emerged at about 12:30 and shot at a passing car. The driver escaped without injury. The police started to arrive and a shootout began. An officer fired 8 shots at the gunman, hitting him once in each leg.
The gunman returned to the car showroom, firing 12 shots from within the building at police from nearby Nürtingen
Nürtingen
Nürtingen is a town in the district of Esslingen in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is located on the river Neckar.-History:The following events occurred, by year:*1046 : First mention of Niuritingin in the document of Speyer...
who were gradually surrounding the building. He then left the rear of the building and ran across a yard to a neighbouring business complex where he shot and injured two police officers in an unmarked police vehicle.
According to police reports, at this point Kretschmer continued to shoot at random, shooting at nearby buildings and people. Witnesses then describe observing the gunman as he reloaded his pistol before shooting himself in the head. The final seconds of the shootout were captured with a cell phone video camera.
According to forensic evidence, during the whole shooting spree the gunman fired a total of 112 rounds.
Perpetrator
The perpetrator of the Winnenden school massacre was 17-year-old Tim Kretschmer (26 July 1991 – 11 March 2009), a resident of the neighbouring municipality of LeutenbachLeutenbach, Baden-Württemberg
Leutenbach is a municipality in the Rems-Murr district, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located 15 km east of Ludwigsburg, and 20 km northeast of Stuttgart....
, and graduated from Albertville Realschule
Realschule
The Realschule is a type of secondary school in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia , Denmark , Sweden , Hungary and in the Russian Empire .-History:The Realschule was an outgrowth of the rationalism and empiricism of the seventeenth and...
in 2008 with relatively poor grades.
His failing grades had prevented him from an apprenticeship
Apprenticeship
Apprenticeship is a system of training a new generation of practitioners of a skill. Apprentices or protégés build their careers from apprenticeships...
so he attended a commercial high school (Donner + Kern) in Waiblingen
Waiblingen
Waiblingen is a town in the southwest of Germany, located in the center of the densely populated Stuttgart Region, directly neighboring Stuttgart. It is the capital of the Rems-Murr district...
as a preparation for an apprenticeship for a commercial career. Kretschmer was described by a friend as "a lonely and frustrated person who felt rejected by society". An anonymous friend described Kretschmer as a quiet student who began to withdraw from his peers.
He was an avid table tennis
Table tennis
Table tennis, also known as ping-pong, is a sport in which two or four players hit a lightweight, hollow ball back and forth using table tennis rackets. The game takes place on a hard table divided by a net...
player and had hoped to become a professional player. Marko Habijanec, a Croatian table tennis player who coached Kretschmer at the Erdmannhausen sports club between 2000 and 2003, remembers him as being "a bit spoiled", his mother fulfilling many of his demands. According to Habijanec, Kretschmer had great difficulties accepting defeat: he would have a temper tantrum
Tantrum
A tantrum is an emotional outburst, usually associated with children or those in emotional distress, that is typically characterized by stubbornness, crying, screaming, yelling, shrieking, defiance, angry ranting, a resistance to attempts at pacification and, in some cases, violence...
, yelling and throwing his racket. Having a high opinion of his own abilities, Kretschmer openly denigrated his teammates. When Habijanec discussed Tim's attitude with his mother, he was at disbelief to discover her siding fully with her son.
Media reports say he enjoyed playing the video game Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike
Counter-Strike is a tactical first-person shooter video game developed by Valve Corporation which originated from a Half-Life modification by Minh "Gooseman" Le and Jess "Cliffe" Cliffe...
and playing with airsoft
Airsoft
Airsoft is a sport in which participants shoot round non-metallic pellets launched via replica firearms.Gameplay varies in style and composition but often range from short-term skirmishes, organized scenarios, military simulations, historical reenactments, to competition target shooting events...
guns. However, commentators also noted that "game addiction is a symptom of something wrong and not a cause". He also shot his guns in the forest behind his home and also in the basement of his house. On his last day alive he played the video game Far Cry 2
Far Cry 2
Far Cry 2 is an open world first-person shooter developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It was released on October 21, 2008 in North America and on October 23, 2008 in Europe and Australia. It was made available on Steam on October 22, 2008...
online as "JawsPredator1".
He had profiles at "MyVideo
MyVideo
MyVideo is a video hosting service website, based in Bucharest, Romania. It is available in German , Dutch and Romanian...
.de", Kwick.de and other websites. He often played poker with his classmates in the "Cafe Tunix" after school hours in Waiblingen.
After inspection of his computer, officers found that he was interested in sadomasochistic scenes where a man is bound and humiliated by women. He also viewed such a movie the evening before the crime.
Kretschmer did not have a criminal record. The press reported that in 2008, Kretschmer had received treatment as an in-patient at the Weissenhoff Psychiatric Clinic near the town of Heilbronn
Heilbronn
Heilbronn is a city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is completely surrounded by Heilbronn County and with approximately 123.000 residents, it is the sixth-largest city in the state....
and that after being discharged, Kretschmer was supposed to continue his treatment as an out-patient in Winnenden
Winnenden
Winnenden is a small town in the Rems-Murr district of the Stuttgart Region in Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany. It lies in a wine-growing area approx. northeast of Stuttgart and has a population of less than 28,000...
, but ended his treatment.
According to police and clinic staff, he had been treated repeatedly for clinical depression
Clinical depression
Major depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities...
on an out-patient basis in 2008. His family rejected these claims and maintained that he never received psychiatric treatment. According to a psychiatric report prepared for the prosecutor's office, Kretschmer met five times with a therapist and talked about his growing anger and violent urges; the therapist then informed Kretschmer's parents.
In a press conference on March 12, police reported that Kretschmer had announced his killing spree several hours ahead of time on the internet chatroom. The next day, police determined that this message had in fact not been written on Kretschmer's computer and was a forgery.
Three weeks before the shooting he had written a letter to his parents, saying that he was suffering and couldn't go on.
The incident occurred merely one day after the Geneva County massacre
Geneva County massacre
The Geneva County massacre, which occurred on March 10, 2009, spanned at least two communities, Geneva and Samson in Geneva County, Alabama, USA, and resulted in the death of 11 people, including the 28 year old gunman, Michael Kenneth McLendon. The victims included members of the McLendon family;...
in Alabama. It was considered that the events in Geneva County triggered the Winnenden shooting, yet that hypothesis could not be proven right or wrong.
Victims
There were 15 victims, among them nine students:- Jacqueline Hahn, 16
- Ibrahim Halilaj, 17
- Franz Josef Just, 57 (worked at the psychatric hospital)
- Stefanie Tanja Kleisch, 16
- Michaela Köhler, 26 (Trainee teacher)
- Selina Marx, 15
- Nina Denise Mayer, 24 (Trainee teacher)
- Viktorija Minasenko, 16
- Nicole Elisabeth Nalepa, 17
- Denis Puljic, 36 (worked in the car dealership in Wendlingen)
- Chantal Schill, 15
- Jana Natascha Schober, 15
- Sabrina Schüle (Trainee teacher), 24
- Kristina Strobel, 16
- Sigurt Peter Gustav Wilk, 46 (Wendlingen victim)
Origin of the gun, indictment of the father
Police raided the Kretschmer family house at about 11:00 on the day of the shooting. Tim Kretschmer's father legally owned 15 guns as a member of a local marksmen club ("SchützenvereinSchützenverein
A Schützenverein is in German language countries a voluntary association featuring sport-shooting either on Olympic levels or historic weapons....
" in German). One 9 mm Beretta
Beretta
Fabbrica d'Armi Pietro Beretta is an Italian firearms manufacturer. Their firearms are used worldwide for a variety of civilian, law enforcement, and military purposes. It is also known for manufacturing shooting clothes and accessories. Beretta is the oldest active firearms manufacturer in the...
handgun was found missing along with several hundred rounds of ammunition. Fourteen of the guns were kept in a gun safe
Gun safe
A gun safe is a secure and protective storage container for one or more firearms, and, or ammunition for those guns. Gun safes are primarily used to prevent access to unauthorized or unqualified persons, for burglary protection, and, in more capable safes, to protect the contents from damage during...
, while the Beretta had been kept unsecured in the bedroom.
Five days after the event, prosecutors initiated preliminary proceedings against the father for negligent homicide
Negligent homicide
Negligent homicide is a criminal charge brought against people who, through criminal negligence, allow others to die.Negligent Homicide is a lesser included offense to first and second degree murder, in the sense that someone guilty of this offense can expect a more lenient sentence, often with...
since the gun had not been properly locked away as required by law. The 14 remaining guns were confiscated, and the father announced that he would voluntarily relinquish his gun ownership authorization.
In November 2009, the Public Prosecutor's Department in Stuttgart announced that the father had been indicted on charges of negligent homicide, bodily injury caused by negligence, and violation of the weapons law.
On 10 February 2011, the state court in Stuttgart found the father guilty of involuntary manslaughter in 15 cases, bodily harm caused by negligence and the negligent abandonment of a weapon. The father received a suspended sentence of one year and nine months and appealed the verdict.
Response
German President Horst KöhlerHorst Köhler
Horst Köhler is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union. He was President of Germany from 2004 to 2010. As the candidate of the two Christian Democratic sister parties, the CDU and the CSU, and the liberal FDP, Köhler was elected to his first five-year term by the Federal Assembly on...
said he was "appalled and saddened" by the killings. Köhler and his wife expressed their condolences to the victims and their families and friends. Chancellor Angela Merkel
Angela Merkel
Angela Dorothea Merkel is the current Chancellor of Germany . Merkel, elected to the Bundestag from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, has been the chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union since 2000, and chairwoman of the CDU-CSU parliamentary coalition from 2002 to 2005.From 2005 to 2009 she led a...
described the shootings as "incomprehensible". "It is unimaginable that in just seconds, pupils and teachers were killed - it is an appalling crime," she told reporters. "This is a day of mourning for the whole of Germany," she continued. Baden-Württemberg Minister-President Günther Oettinger
Günther Oettinger
Günther Hermann Oettinger is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union . He became European Commissioner for Energy in the European Commission on 10 February 2010 and is affiliated with the European People's Party...
travelled to the scene of the crime by helicopter shortly after the news broke. Oettinger spoke of a "horrible and in no way explainable crime". He also expressed his condolences to the victims, students and families. "This has touched all of Baden-Württemberg. The school, the town, the future, education, and raising children - to destroy these things like that is especially cruel." The European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
held a minute of silence to honour the dead.
An ecumenical
Ecumenism
Ecumenism or oecumenism mainly refers to initiatives aimed at greater Christian unity or cooperation. It is used predominantly by and with reference to Christian denominations and Christian Churches separated by doctrine, history, and practice...
Church service was held in Winnenden the evening of the shooting, attended by a Protestant, a Catholic, and a Muslim cleric. All German flags were flown on half-staff
Half-staff
Half-staff is the American term for to describe a flag flying a flag below the summit of the flagpole . The rest of the English-speaking world uses the term half-mast. Technically the flag should be flown one breadth lower to allow for the invisible flag of death...
until 13 March, in memorial of the victims.
In the days following the event, some politicians called for legal consequences, including a total prohibition of all shooting video games, better monitoring of gun club members, a directive to have all ammunition deposited with police, and a provision to have gun club members store their weapons at the club house. Others dismissed such demands as mere "placebos".
The families of five victims wrote an open letter to Chancellor Angela Merkel, President Horst Köhler, and Baden-Württemberg Minister President Günther Oettinger
Günther Oettinger
Günther Hermann Oettinger is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union . He became European Commissioner for Energy in the European Commission on 10 February 2010 and is affiliated with the European People's Party...
with demands for consequences. They called for a prohibition on youths' access to guns in gun clubs, less violence on TV, and a prohibition of violent video games. They also called for reporting of these incidents without highlighting the perpetrator, so as to minimize the chance of copycats.
In May 2009, Germany announced plans to ban games such as paintball
Paintball
Paintball is a sport in which players compete, in teams or individually, to eliminate opponents by tagging them with capsules containing water soluble dye and gelatin shell outside propelled from a device called a paintball marker . Paintballs have a non-toxic, biodegradable, water soluble...
on the grounds that they "trivialise and encourage violence".
The German government passed legislation in June to improve handgun security with an electronic nation-wide weapons registry, increased age limitations for large-calibre weapons as well as unannounced, random inspections in gun-owner homes. Obligatory biometric security systems should be introduced once technically feasible. A ban on fighting games such as Paintball, Gotcha and Laserdrome was not passed and neither was a limitation on the number of guns owned nor an obligation to store guns with shooting clubs.
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....
- Eppstein school shootingEppstein school shootingThe 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...
- 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...
- 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...
- School shooting