March 11: On This Day in World History … briefly
When asked why he was doing this, the gunman replied "For fun, because it is fun."
2009: Graduate kills 16 and injures 11 at a school shootout
On the morning of March 11, 2009, Tim Kretschmer opened fire at Albertville-Realschule in Winnenden, Baden-Württemberg, southwestern Germany. He then continued his shootout at a car dealership in nearby Wendlingen – a shooting spree that resulted in 16 deaths, including the suicide of the 17-year-old perpetrator who had graduated from the school one year earlier. He also injured nine people during the incident.
At approximately 9.30am, Kretschmer first began shooting at Albertville-Realschule with a 9 mm Beretta 92FS semi-automatic pistol taken from his parents’ bedroom. Eyewitnesses state that Kretschmer started on the first upstairs floor, where he made a beeline for two top-floor classrooms and a chemistry laboratory. In the first class, he fatally shot five students in the head at close range without warning. He then entered the next classroom, killed two more and wounded nine, two of whom would die of their wounds en route to the hospital. As Kretschmer left the room to reload his weapon, the teacher reportedly closed the door and locked it. After unsuccessfully trying to shoot off the lock, he then moved on to the chemistry lab where he shot and killed the teacher. Students escaped Kretschmer by jumping out of windows. In the three targeted classrooms, he killed nine students (eight female and one male aged from 14 to 16) and a female teacher. He shot most of his victims in the head and fired more than 60 rounds at the school. Because the majority of the victims were female, some speculated that Kretschmer specifically targeted women.
The school headmaster broadcast a coded announcement ‘Mrs Koma is coming’, (amok spelled backwards) alerting teachers of the situation and they locked classroom doors. This coded alert had been used by German educators after the Erfurt school massacre in April 2002.
After receiving an emergency call from a student at 09:33 local time, three police officers reached the scene two minutes later and entered the school, interrupting the shooting spree. Kretschmer shot at them and fled the building, killing two women teachers in the hall as he departed. He killed a total of 12 people at the school. At about 10am, he carjacked a Volkswagen Sharan minivan at a car park in Winnenden and ordered driver Igor Wolf to drive towards Wendlingen, 40km from Winnenden. According to Wolf, the gunman revealed his intentions while loading his pistol magazines during the ride, saying “Do you think we will find another school?” Wolf says he quickly changed the conversation then. Shortly after 12pm, just before the Wendlinger junction to the A8 autobahn, the hostage steered the car onto the grass verge and jumped from the vehicle toward a police patrol car. Kretschmer immediately left the car and ran towards the nearby industrial area, entering a Volkswagen car showroom through the main entrance. He threatened a salesperson and demanded a key for one of the vehicles. The salesperson escaped while the gunman was distracted, but Kretschmer, enraged shot and killed another salesperson and a customer – firing 13 bullets into both people. As he reloaded, another salesperson and visitor fled through the rear exit. The gunman emerged at about 12.30pm and shot at a passing car, luckily the driver escaped without injury. The police arrived and a shootout began.
The gunman returned to the car showroom, firing 12 shots from within the building at police from nearby Nürtingen, who were gradually surrounding the building. He left the rear of the building and ran across a yard to a neighbouring business complex, where he shot and injured two police officers in an unmarked police vehicle. According to police reports, at this point Kretschmer continued to shoot at random, shooting at nearby buildings and people, including an employee of a firm who was trying to lock the door. Witnesses described observing the gunman as he reloaded his pistol before shooting himself in the head. The final seconds of the shootout were captured with a cell phone video camera.
According to forensic evidence, during the whole shooting spree, the gunman fired a total of 112 rounds.
Most notable historic snippets or facts extracted from the book ‘On This Day’ first published in 1992 by Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, London, as well as additional supplementary information extracted from Wikipedia.
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