Germans paused for a moment of silence today to honour the victims of last week’s school shooting that left 17 dead, while most classes in the stricken city of Erfurt were cancelled to give students a chance to express their grief and fears.

The parents of a teenage gunman who killed 16 people and himself at his former school did not know he had been expelled, German police have said.

An expelled student who went on a shooting rampage at his former school, had frequent run-ins with teachers and his parents.