"WINNENDEN, Germany (CNN) -- A gunman dressed in military gear killed 16 people Wednesday in a shooting spree in Germany before he was shot dead by police, police spokesman Rainer Kloeller told CNN.
Police and medics accompany people, believed to be relatives of school children, away from the school.
Tim Kretschmer, 17, began his rampage at a school where he used to be a student in Winnenden, a small town about 20 kilometers (12 miles) northeast of Stuttgart, said KIoeller, of the police in the nearby town of Waiblingen.
"The suspect broke into the school. He went into the classroom and shot wildly around himself and left the building and fled on foot," Hans Ulrich Stuiber, another police spokesman, said.
Three teachers and 10 students were killed at the Albertville-Realschule Winnenden school, Kloeller said. The shooting, which began around 9:45 a.m. (4:45 a.m. EDT), lasted about two minutes, police said. Kretschmer fired shots into three classrooms, Kloeller said.
On his way out of the school, the gunman killed a person who was working in a hospital nearby, then hijacked a car, taking the driver hostage.
He drove to the nearby town of Wendlingen, where he let the driver go, Kloeller said. The driver alerted the police.
Kretschmer was spotted by police in Wendlingen at around 12:20 p.m. (7:20 a.m. EDT) and shot two of them, injuring them. He then killed two more people before being killed himself in a shootout with police, authorities said
Kretschmer was on the loose for three and a half hours after the incident began, police said.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said it was "inconceivable that within seconds school students and teachers have been put to death by this terrible crime."
"It is a day of mourning for the whole of Germany," she said in a televised statement.
Police did not know the motive for the shooting spree, CNN's Frederik Pleitgen reported from Winnenden.
"No one seems to have an explanation for why this happened," he said. "Police officers have heard that this young man didn't cause much of a buzz, wasn't someone who was negative or known for violence. They have no idea why he did all this."
Police raided his parents' home later and found they had a sizable collection of guns, at least one of which was used in the killings, authorities said. German gun laws are fairly restrictive and require owners to control access to them. Do you think the gun control issue is taken seriously enough?
At least seven people were injured in the shootings -- five people in Winnenden and two police officers in Wendlingen -- police spokeswoman Renate Roesch added. She was unable to say how serious the injuries were.
Six teenagers from the from the school shooting were transported to the Waiblingen hospital with undisclosed injuries.
One of those patients has already been released from the hospital, according to a hospital spokeswoman. The families of the dead have been informed and are receiving counseling, Roesch said.
About 1,000 students attend the school where the killings began.
Authorities sealed off the town of Winnenden and launched an intense manhunt for the gunman after the school shootings. Police said the man was about 1.80m (5'11") and heavily armed.
"It is a small town, an idyllic town," said Frank Nipkau, the editor in chief of Winnenden Zeitung newspaper. "The town people are devastated and they can't understand why this is happening in this town."
Security at German schools has been an issue in the past.
In November 2006, an 18-year-old former student strapped explosives to his body and went on a rampage at a middle school in western Germany, shooting and wounding six people -- most of them students -- before killing himself.
In July 2003, a 16-year-old student shot a teacher before taking his own life at a school in the southern German town of Coburg.
A year earlier, 18 people were killed when an expelled student went on a shooting spree at his school in eastern Germany.
Another European country, Finland, is planning to toughen firearm laws after two school shootings there left 20 people dead. Those incidents occurred in November 2007 and September 2008.
Finnish news reports on Wednesday said an Interior Ministry working group has issued a proposal calling for age 20 as the minimum age for handgun ownership and 18 as the minimum for rifles. The proposal will be circulated among legislators."
R.I.P. to all the victims. my thoughts and prayers go out to their family and friends.
Police and medics accompany people, believed to be relatives of school children, away from the school.
Tim Kretschmer, 17, began his rampage at a school where he used to be a student in Winnenden, a small town about 20 kilometers (12 miles) northeast of Stuttgart, said KIoeller, of the police in the nearby town of Waiblingen.
"The suspect broke into the school. He went into the classroom and shot wildly around himself and left the building and fled on foot," Hans Ulrich Stuiber, another police spokesman, said.
Three teachers and 10 students were killed at the Albertville-Realschule Winnenden school, Kloeller said. The shooting, which began around 9:45 a.m. (4:45 a.m. EDT), lasted about two minutes, police said. Kretschmer fired shots into three classrooms, Kloeller said.
On his way out of the school, the gunman killed a person who was working in a hospital nearby, then hijacked a car, taking the driver hostage.
He drove to the nearby town of Wendlingen, where he let the driver go, Kloeller said. The driver alerted the police.
Kretschmer was spotted by police in Wendlingen at around 12:20 p.m. (7:20 a.m. EDT) and shot two of them, injuring them. He then killed two more people before being killed himself in a shootout with police, authorities said
Kretschmer was on the loose for three and a half hours after the incident began, police said.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said it was "inconceivable that within seconds school students and teachers have been put to death by this terrible crime."
"It is a day of mourning for the whole of Germany," she said in a televised statement.
Police did not know the motive for the shooting spree, CNN's Frederik Pleitgen reported from Winnenden.
"No one seems to have an explanation for why this happened," he said. "Police officers have heard that this young man didn't cause much of a buzz, wasn't someone who was negative or known for violence. They have no idea why he did all this."
Police raided his parents' home later and found they had a sizable collection of guns, at least one of which was used in the killings, authorities said. German gun laws are fairly restrictive and require owners to control access to them. Do you think the gun control issue is taken seriously enough?
At least seven people were injured in the shootings -- five people in Winnenden and two police officers in Wendlingen -- police spokeswoman Renate Roesch added. She was unable to say how serious the injuries were.
Six teenagers from the from the school shooting were transported to the Waiblingen hospital with undisclosed injuries.
One of those patients has already been released from the hospital, according to a hospital spokeswoman. The families of the dead have been informed and are receiving counseling, Roesch said.
About 1,000 students attend the school where the killings began.
Authorities sealed off the town of Winnenden and launched an intense manhunt for the gunman after the school shootings. Police said the man was about 1.80m (5'11") and heavily armed.
"It is a small town, an idyllic town," said Frank Nipkau, the editor in chief of Winnenden Zeitung newspaper. "The town people are devastated and they can't understand why this is happening in this town."
Security at German schools has been an issue in the past.
In November 2006, an 18-year-old former student strapped explosives to his body and went on a rampage at a middle school in western Germany, shooting and wounding six people -- most of them students -- before killing himself.
In July 2003, a 16-year-old student shot a teacher before taking his own life at a school in the southern German town of Coburg.
A year earlier, 18 people were killed when an expelled student went on a shooting spree at his school in eastern Germany.
Another European country, Finland, is planning to toughen firearm laws after two school shootings there left 20 people dead. Those incidents occurred in November 2007 and September 2008.
Finnish news reports on Wednesday said an Interior Ministry working group has issued a proposal calling for age 20 as the minimum age for handgun ownership and 18 as the minimum for rifles. The proposal will be circulated among legislators."
R.I.P. to all the victims. my thoughts and prayers go out to their family and friends.
