Friday, March 13, 2009

School Massacre

I'm fed up with this life: Gunman leaves final message before school massacre
By Allan Hall

An internet warning apparently left by the teenage gunman who killed 15 people at a school was shrouded in mystery last night.

Tim Kretschmer, 17, was said to have posted the message on an online chatroom just hours before the massacre.

Chantal, 16
Steffi, 16

Victims: Chantal Schill (left) and Steffi (right) were both 16. It is believed Kretschmer deliberately targeted girls

Jana Schober, one of the German shooting victims
Victim known as nina

Murdered: 14-year-old Jana Schober (left) was gunned down as she attended school in Winnenden whilst a victim identified as 'Nina' is also being mourned

The note to another chatroom user with the online name Bernd is believed to have read: 'I have weapons here and I'm going to my old school. I've had enough. I am fed-up with this life.

'Everybody laughs at me and nobody recognises my potential. I mean it seriously, Bernd. I have weapons here and I am going to my old school tomorrow.'

Final moments: Mobile phone footage shows gunman Tim Kretschmer pacing back and forward on a garage forecourt before apparently shooting himself and then collapsing to the ground

However, last night doubts emerged over the veracity of the message.

Police spokesman Klaus Hinderer said a search of Kretschmer's computer showed no trace of the warning.

Tim Kretschmer
BILD- Kretschmer 2.jpg

Killing spree: Tim Kretschmer shot 16 people dead before shooting himself

'We are looking into claims that this message is not genuine,' he added. 'At the moment we are not 100 per cent sure either way.' A message posted on the site - krautchan.net - also read: 'No killing spree was announced here.'

According to internet experts, the alleged message was actually a faked image that was posted on the site at 4.57pm on Wednesday. Kretschmer died at 12.30pm that day.

Albertville School

Emotional: Students light candles at a memorial at Albertville School today

He walked into his old school, Albertville Secondary School in Winnenden, near Stuttgart in Germany, and gunned down nine pupils and three teachers.

After killing another three people away from the school, he shot himself after a stand-off with police.

The body of a victim lies on the ground outside the school

The body of a victim lies on the ground outside the school

Yesterday, as the first of Kretschmer's victims were named, it also emerged the teenager had been treated for depression and appeared to harbour a hatred of women. Eleven of his 15 victims were female.

Investigator Siegfried Mahler said Kretschmer had visited a psychiatrist five times between April and September last year. Although he was supposed to continue his treatment at another clinic, he did not show up.

Reichstag

Day of morning: The German parliament, the Reichstag in Berlin, flies flags at half mast today

Just three weeks ago, it is understood that Kretschmer wrote a note to his family telling them of his unhappiness.

Fabienne Boehm, who met Kretschmer recently through a friend, said: 'He wrote to his parents that he's suffering and he can't go on. He was teased by others, felt bullied.'

Bullet holes

Bullet holes in the window of a car dealership at the shopping centre where the gunman died in a police shoot-out have been numbered. There are nearly 90

Winnenden flower tributes

Distraught: Students lay flowers and candles in front of Albertville School

Reports said that he had grown frustrated in recent months at being unable to make friends.

A neighbour also claimed Kretschmer displayed a hatred of women. He said: 'In the park when I met him he would talk about this teacher and say he was going to "put her on the trash heap".

Bloodat crime scene

Blood is seen at the crime scene outside the car dealership in Wendlingen where a salesman and a customer died

'He hated women. I could tell by the way he talked.'

german school massacre gun

Police have released a photo of the 9mm Beretta gun used in the shooting spree.

Last night, it was also revealed that the shooting could have been worse if the school's headmaster had not warned teachers about the attack over the public address system.

He broadcast the message 'Frau Koma is coming' - a codeword devised after a deadly school shooting in Erfurt in 2002.

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