Teen in school axe attack driven by ‘hatred for humanity’

A GERMAN teenager who wounded nine students and a teacher in a terrifying axe and arson attack on his school was motivated by “hatred for humanity” and had been planning the rampage since April, officials said yesterday.

The 18-year-old was awakened yesterday from a medically induced coma. Prosecutor Gudrun Lehnberger said the suspect was responsive but has not yet been questioned about last Thursday’s attack.

However, evidence recovered from his laptop included extensive information on his plans, said Juergen Krach, another prosecutor.

The teenager, who has not been named, wrote that his “goal was to kill as many students and teachers as possible and burn down the school building”, Lehnberger said.

“As a motive, he named his hatred for humanity and, above all, school,” she added at a news conference.

The assailant wrote that he was treated unfairly in and out of school and feared that he wouldn’t meet the requirements for graduation, Lehnberger said.

Krach said the student wrote that his parents were not responsible for his planned actions, which he described in documents dating back to April.

The plans showed that he intended to draw students out of classrooms with burning objects and then attack them with hand-held weapons such as an axe, officials said.

Last Thursday he climbed to the third storey of the school in Ansbach, Bavaria, shortly after classes started, tossed Molotov cocktails into a classroom and then attacked students with an axe and knives as they fled.

More than 700 students fled the school, some leaving by an emergency staircase. Police shot the assailant three times in the upper body, officials said yesterday – correcting their previous statement that he was shot five times.

Two girls who suffered the most serious injuries are both out of critical condition, officials said. The school reopened for classes on Friday.