Petrol bomb pupil shot attacking German school

An 18-year-old pupil armed with an axe and knives attacked his school with petrol bombs in Germany today wounding nine classmates before he was shot and arrested.

He entered the Carolinum High School in the Bavarian town of Ansbach and threw one bomb before police were alerted and arrived at the scene, said Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann.

“Since the attacker threatened to use his weapons against the police, the officers opened fire,” Mr Hermann said, adding that the attacker, who was not identified, was wounded and in critical condition.

Udo Dreher, the chief police officer at the scene, said the youth was shot five times.

Two teenage girls were seriously injured by the attacker – one suffering burns and the other head injuries.

Mr Dreher said the pupil started his rampage armed with three petrol bombs, the axe and two knives. He was arrested 11 minutes after police were called to the scene.

Authorities said he had no police record and it was not clear what his motive was. There was no indication that he had said anything during the attack.

The school's 700 pupils were evacuated to a nearby building.

Carolinum was founded in 1528, making it the second-oldest public high school in Bavaria.

The incident was the second attack on a school in Germany this year.

In March, 17-year-old Tim Kretschmer shot dead 12 people at his former school in the south-western town of Winnenden. He fled the building and killed three more people before turning the gun on himself.

That was the nation’s second-worst school shooting after a 2002 shooting spree in Erfurt that left 17 dead, including the gunman.

After Kretschmer’s attack in Winnenden, Germany moved to tighten checks on gun owners.