Tim Kretschmer

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

As the burials began in the grieving German town of Winnenden, investigators tried Sunday to piece together the events leading up to 17-year-old Tim Kretschmer shooting 15 people and himself. With the burial of Kretschmer's first victim -- 16-year-old Nicole -- came intensified debate over gun control in Germany, with Chancellor Angela Merkel calling already for tighter restrictions. Local officials paid tribute Sunday to the "heroism" of the teachers who were inside the Albertville secondary school when the killer struck, killing eight girls and one boy, mostly with expert shots to the head. "Although some were already injured, they brought the children to safety, ... Read Full Story

BERLIN, March 15 (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday urged Germany to pay more attention to the well-being of young people after a teenager shot dead 15 people last week. Merkel said she had been stunned by the massacre in the southwestern town of Winnenden, near Stuttgart, where 17-year-old Tim Kretschmer shot 15 people with his father's pistol, including 12 at his former school, before killing himself. "The lesson is that we must be attentive to all young people -- that's true for parents and educators," Merkel told Deutschlandfunk radio. "We must do all to prevent children from having access to weapons and ... Read Full Story