German Cops Nab Boy Amid Threats

Classmates say school shooter was shy but never seemed strange

(NEWSER) - The 17-year-old who calmly gunned down his former classmates and teachers in Germany this week before taking his own life seemed like a normal teenager, Der Spiegel reports. Tim Kretschmer was inconspicuous and shy, schoolmates say, but he wasn't a loner and wasn't considered strange. Police say they have searched in vain for a farewell letter explaining the shooting spree that killed 15. More»

Witnesses describe student's rampage

(NEWSER) - Tim Kretschmer was calm and silent as he gunned down his former classmates today in southern Germany, witnesses tell the Telegraph. Kretschmer, 17, moved between classrooms dispatching his victims—mainly girls—with a weapon he’d brought from home. The only words survivors heard him say were “Aren’t you all dead yet?” after he returned to a classroom for the third time. More»

(NEWSER) - Fifteen people are dead after a 17-year-old went on a shooting spree at his former school in southern Germany; the gunman died hours later during a shootout in a nearby town. The assailant killed at least 11 people, mostly students, at the school before driving away. He then barricaded himself in a shopping center and began firing at police and bystanders. It remains unclear whether the gunman was shot dead by police or killed himself, reports the BBC. More»

German police, American security swing into action

(NEWSER) - The US air base in Spangdahlem, Germany, received a phoned-in bomb threat last night, and German police and the American military personnel have secured the facility. Although officials say they doubt the threat is credible, they're taking no chances. "It is being taken very seriously given the current situation and because of the date," said a local police spokesman. More»

Publisher recalls comics misusing 'Holocaust' as congratulatory word

(NEWSER) - It was just a mistake, says a comic book publisher, but no one found it funny. In the latest version of a German comic book based on Disney characters, a duck dignitary in Duckburg uses the word "Holocaust" as a congratulatory term to express kudos to hero firefighters. "Awards to our brave and always-alert fire lookouts! Holocaust!" says the top-hatted duck. More»