Fatal Shooting of 15-Year-Old Student Sparks Debate on School Security

Surveillance cameras and security checks like at the airport? Shooting training for teachers like in the USA? Education unions are in hot water after the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old student Offenburg against additional security for schools. “We cannot prevent such brutal cases as in Offenburg,” said the state and federal chairman of the Education Association (VBE), Gerhard Brand.

The police and public prosecutor’s investigations are currently continuing, although neither wanted to comment further on Saturday. A police spokesman said on request that this was an ongoing criminal case.

The student who is said to have fired two shots at a classmate of the same age in a special needs school on Thursday is in custody on suspicion of manslaughter. Investigators have so far cited jealousy as the motive.

The attack is said to have taken place in the suspect’s 9th grade class. The student is said to have entered his classroom and suddenly shot his classmate in the head with a handgun. The 15-year-old victim was hit by two shots. A teacher then met the alleged perpetrator in the hallway in front of the classroom. The suspect hit her on the head. The woman was slightly injured.

A father of an uninvolved school child stopped the suspected shooter after the crime. According to dpa information, the firearm that the shooter used was an old Beretta. It is not yet known whether the weapon was legally owned by a family member or whether there was a violation of the War Weapons Control Act. “Bild” reported that it was an heirloom from his grandfather.

The suspect is said to have had dozens of cartridges. In addition to the firearm, he also had a Molotov cocktail with him. During a search of the school building, police forces found a bottle containing suspected flammable liquid in the stairwell and confiscated it. The extent to which this bottle is connected to the crime remains to be determined.

“According to the information so far, it does not look like a possible rampage, but rather a targeted individual act,” said the state chairman of the German Police Union, Ralf Kusterer.

VBE chairman Brand and the Education and Science Union (GEW) praised steps such as the emergency plans drawn up by schools after the school shooting in Winnenden in 2009. “The plans have proven themselves, as the recent false alarms after reports of a shooting have shown,” said GEW managing director Matthias Schneider. “It is important to work as preventatively as possible,” said Brand. Social workers and school psychologists are important pillars in approaching children and young people and identifying problem cases at an early stage.

© dpa-infocom, dpa:231111-99-905729/3