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CNN Live Today

Ex-Student Kills 17 in School in Germany

Aired April 26, 2002 - 13:01   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Now, more on the deadly shooting rampage at a high school in Germany. Parents and students seen weeping gathering outside the school in Erfurt. That's in the former East Germany. Police say the 19-year-old gunman deliberately took aim at adults, killing 14 teachers. CNN producer Alex Quade near the scene, and joins us for an update once again by telephone. Alex, what do you have for us this hour?

ALEX QUADE, CNN PRODUCER: Bill, Germany is in shock. This is the bloodiest school massacre in the country's history. And it's being compared to America's Columbine shooting. As you said, 18 people dead and four injured after a masked, armed gunman, dressed in black, went on a shooting rampage here in Erfurt in Eastern Germany.

Now, among the dead -- 14 teachers, two students, one police officer. This was the first officer to storm into the building. And the gunman, who police say shot himself when that officer stormed the classroom in which he had barricaded himself.

Investigators thoroughly searched the school for a possible second gunman, but police say they cannot confirm student reports of this second gunman.

When they went into the school, police and medics found a horrible scene. They described bodies strewn in hallways and in bathrooms, and they found a handwritten note on a window, saying "help" in German.

Police have identified the shooter as 19-year-old ex-student, recently expelled from the school. They say he was carrying a handgun and a shotgun.

Now, tonight there is a local church service memorialized plan. There is also a counseling center that has been set up for the victims' families where they can gather.

Meanwhile, there's already outpouring reaction from the officials. Chancellor Gerhard Schroder says that all of Germany is in morning with the families of the victims, and that it will take a long time to get over this. And the minister of interior, Otto Schily, says that this action will not result in Germany putting police in schools, as is customary now in America.

Bill, back to you. HEMMER: Alex, are you hearing anything about what the gunman may have said as he worked his way through the school or might have talked about when he was holed up inside that classroom a short time before police say he took his own life? Is there any talk about a motive right now?

QUADE: What we have heard from victims -- victims reports from people who were in the school was that they don't know if he was on drugs. They don't know how he got the weapons. One young victim described that as teachers were walking down a staircase that the gunman just opened fire on them. In the next few days, police will be investigating how he obtained these weapons, because Germany's gun laws are so strict. They believe that others must have known about this because of the pre-planning needed to be able to undertake such an action. They are checking the Internet, and they also are going to be talking with students -- Bill.

HEMMER: And is there any evidence right now -- and I don't want to put you in an unfair position -- but is there any evidence that he may have had something against these teachers or previous clashes that may have led to this?

QUADE: Again, Bill, we don't know what kind of a motive, what would make somebody do this, other than that police have identified him as an ex-student who was recently expelled from the school, but we wouldn't want to try to deliberate on that too much more.

HEMMER: OK. Let us know if police say anything else there in Germany. Again, Alex Quade, CNN producer near the scene there of that shooting. Eighteen dead, including 14 teachers, two young girls and a police officer and a student, the former student, the gunman himself.

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