Tim Kretschmer

German prosecutors say they have filed criminal charges against the father of a teenager who killed 15 people in a shooting spree in March. Spokeswoman Claudia Krauth said Friday that Tim Kretschmer's father was charged with 15 counts of negligent manslaughter. No trial date has been set. The 17-year-old Kretschmer killed nine students and three teachers at his former high school in southwestern German town of Winnenden before fatally shooting three others elsewhere. Authorities have said he used a 9mm Beretta pistol that belonged to his father, Joerg — who, they say, kept the gun unsecured in his bedroom in violation of German law. ... Read Full Story

The father of a German teenager who went on a shooting spree in March, killing 15 people, has been charged with manslaughter. Tim Kretschmer, 17, took his father’s pistol and burst into his former school in Winnenden, near Stuttgart, opening fire, before killing himself. His father has now been charged with 15 counts of manslaughter for failing to keep his gun secure. Prosecutors said he had “negligently” stored weapons and bullets. Kretschmer used his father’s legally-registered pistol to kill eight schoolgirls, a schoolboy and three teachers at Albertville secondary school on 11 March. Quantity of ammunition He then commandeered a car and killed two ... Read Full Story

A grainy amateur mobile-phone video apparently showing the dramatic last moments and death of German mass killer Tim Kretschmer surfaced on the Internet on Thursday. The two-minute clip, featured on the websites of German television channel RTL and mass circulation daily Bild, shows a figure wielding a gun in a car park as shots ring out around him. The killer, who shot dead 15 people on Wednesday, suddenly falls to the ground and seconds later is surrounded by dozens of police officers in green uniforms. Police said earlier Thursday that officers had cornered the gunman in a car park and shot him twice in ... Read Full Story

Last week German Chancellor Angela Merkel's government changed its mind on including a ban on paintball in a package of measures it wants to rush through parliament in response to a recent gun rampage. In March teenager Tim Kretschmer took a gun from his father's bedroom, went to his old school in Winnenden and shot dead nine pupils and three teachers, mostly with expert shots to the head. The 17-year-old then picked off a bystander outside a nearby psychiatric clinic where he had been due to receive treatment, hijacked a car and shot two people before turning the gun on himself in a shootout ... Read Full Story

Policemen are seen at the crime scene at the Albertville-School Centre on March 11, 2009 in Winnenden near Stuttgart, Germany. According to media reports, a gunman attacked a secondary school this morning around 0845 GMT and may have killed ten students and injured several. The school has been evacuated. The criminal, said to be an 17 year old ex pupil, was reported to have been wearing black combat gear, has fled into the inner city of Winnenden. The police have secured a large area of the city. (Getty Images) more pics » A teenager in black combat gear went on a rampage at his ... Read Full Story