Police officers gathered Wednesday near the site of a slain(slay:杀害) victim. At least 15 people, the majority of them girls and women, were killed when a teenage gunman clad in(身着) black stormed into a secondary school in Winnenden, Germany, on Wednesday morning and opened fire before fleeing to another town and killing himself after being wounded by the police.
Students were evacuated(疏散) from the Albertville secondary school, where the attack took place. Officials said that several police officers arrived at the school within minutes of receiving an emergency call at 9:33 a.m. and could hear shots still being fired.
The police said that Tim Kretschmer, 17, opened fire in three classrooms at the school, killing nine students -- eight girls and a boy -- and three female teachers.
A police officer investigated the crime scene at a car showroom in nearby Wendlingen, where Mr. Kretschmer fled after hijacking(劫持) a car. Inside the dealership(经销商), the gunman killed an employee and a customer before police officers engaged him in a gunfight. The gunman was shot in the leg and two police officers were injured. As they closed in, Mr. Kretschmer shot himself in the head.
Mourners laid down candles and flowers in front of the Albertville school on Wednesday.
A body was carried out of the Albertville school, where authorities said Mr. Kretschmer had graduated from a year earlier. Mr. Kretschmer's father was a member of a local shooting club and owned 15 legally registered weapons, according to state officials.
Participants crowded a memorial service at a church in Winnenden. By Wednesday night, no motive had yet emerged.
Teenagers comforted each other during a memorial service Wednesday.
Candles were set up outside the Albertville school. Some Germans wondered whether the attack could have had any link -- in the mind of the attacker, if nowhere else -- to a shooting spree(放纵的行为) in Alabama a day earlier.
Mourners gathered outside the Albertville school. The attack left the country, which despite strong gun controls has seen several devastating(破坏性的) school attacks in recent years, struggling to understand the carnage(大屠杀, 残杀).